Scotland’s International Framework Pakistan Engagement Strategy

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First published by the Scottish Government, April 2016
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Introduction

SCOTLAND’S COMMITMENT TO A STRONG, LONG-TERM, BILATERAL PARTNERSHIP WITH PAKISTAN

Why Pakistan?

Pakistan occupies a geopolitically important location at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East and Central Asia. With over 191 million people and an increasing urban and young population¹, Pakistan’s economy is poised to grow steadily in the coming years².

Scotland is home to a large and vibrant Pakistani community including a sizeable student population, many of whom maintain close links with family members in Pakistan. The community’s contribution to Scotland – culturally, economically and socially – is significant. The early migrants, whose experience has been collected through the Colourful Heritage project, have opened the door for the Scottish Asian community to play a valued and influential role in public life, civil society and business.

Scotland’s new Pakistan Strategy recognises the need for specific, focused and collaborative activity with Pakistan, to help us meet our purpose of sustainable economic growth. We have focused on four priority sectors which include: trade, investment and enterprise; education and skills; water and energy; and culture and heritage. Our focus for engagement reflects Pakistan’s own priorities, matched with Scotland’s expertise and offers scope for mutual learning, benefit and sharing of knowledge.

In our partnership work with Pakistan, we will engage with Pakistani national and provincial government as well as business, academic and cultural communities, civil society and young people.

Scotland’s international ambitions

One of the key priorities of Scotland’s Economic Strategy is internationalisation and our co-operation with Pakistan fully supports this. As defined in Scotland’s International Framework, the aims of internationalisation are:

to create an environment within Scotland that supports a better understanding of international opportunities and a greater appetite and ability to seize them; and

to influence the world around us on the issues that matter most in helping Scotland flourish.

As part of this ambition we will aim to co-operate in addressing global challenges such as climate change, tackling inequality and the promotion of human rights. Scotland’s engagement with Pakistan will complement these aims as well as contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Strategic objectives for engagement with Pakistan

Our International Framework has four strategic objectives, which we have aligned to our engagement with Pakistan.

Strategic Objective 1 - Global Outlook

Aim

To enhance Scotland’s global outlook, we will embed internationalisation and create an environment which encourages knowledge exchange. We will provide targeted support to our people, businesses and institutions to help them to seize international opportunities. We must also understand the impact of our work on others.

Trade, Investment and Enterprise

The Government of Pakistan’s focus remains on ensuring macroeconomic stability and growth as well as mobilising domestic resources and increasing exports³. Pakistan is a developing market with a young and growing population, with 35% of the population now living in urban areas⁴. Areas of interest where Scotland is well placed to assist include infrastructure development, renewable energy, water, financial services, food and drink, healthcare and retail. Scotland is a global leader in its policies to develop social enterprise and will share expertise with Pakistan in this area, including through supporting the Social Enterprise Academy, to seek a partner to open a branch of the Academy in Pakistan. This way, Scottish expertise can be used to help develop the growing social enterprise sector in Pakistan.

What is our long-term ambition?

Increase trade with Pakistan.

Help support Scottish companies to successfully access Pakistan’s markets.

Encourage frequent exchange of business delegations in both countries, resulting in long-term sustainable relationships.

Enhance the reputation of Scottish business in Pakistan.

Encourage increased investment from Pakistan into Scotland.

Support strengthened and fairer economies through social enterprise development.

Strategic Objective 2 - Relationship And Partnerships

Aim

We will work with partners to share local knowledge and build bilateral relationships and networks. We will continue to be a good global citizen, making distinctive contributions to addressing global challenges such as climate change, tackling inequality and promoting human rights. A relationship of trust, collaboration and mutual benefit is more likely to lead to long-term co-operation. We will build on the increasing engagement between the governments of Scotland and Pakistan at national and provincial level, including developing our established links with the provincial governments of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Education and Skills

The Government of Pakistan is focused on raising academic and vocational standards of education and training. A large youth population (approximately 40 million 10-19 year olds) and a literacy rate of 58%⁵ provides tremendous opportunities for Scotland. Scotland has a global reputation for its approach to inclusive education and curriculum development⁶ and as such can partner with Pakistan to support development in these areas. We can also look at how we can use modern technology to connect more classrooms and teachers in Pakistan and Scotland, developing closer links at a young age.

In higher education, Scotland has a global reputation for the quality of its research. Five Scottish universities feature in the world’s top 200⁷ and funding is in place to enable research partnerships and further collaboration. We will capitalise on this by partnering with Pakistan in specialised areas such as aviation, dentistry, energy, water, life science, agriculture and business. We will share information regarding the development of on-line learning. In addition we will extend the Saltire Scholarships programme to Pakistan to encourage more Pakistani students to study in Scotland.

Equality of opportunity in education is vital. Through our International Development Fund the Scottish Government is contributing to access for women and disadvantaged groups in Pakistan to education and skills development, as well as for schoolchildren from rural areas to continue their education⁸.

The development of skills for employability is also crucial. By 2020 we are looking at providing 500,000 skills and learning opportunities in Scotland⁹ and will share information about modern apprenticeships and help develop an apprenticeship programme in Pakistan that can have a focus on the most disadvantaged.

What is our long-term ambition?

Sustainable, long-term collaborative relationships between Pakistani and Scottish children, young people, students and educationalists across all sectors.

Scotland and Pakistan’s education, skills and research strengths are enhanced, recognised, and increased in economic value.

Encourage the development of apprenticeship programmes in Pakistan.

Increase opportunities for women and disadvantaged groups to access education in Pakistan.

Contribute to Sustainable Development Goal Four to ensure inclusive education.

Strategic Objective 3 - Reputation and Attractiveness

Aim

We are committed to building our reputation and international attractiveness by celebrating and promoting our culture and values, boosting our export performance, ensuring that Scotland remains an attractive location for investment and building on our education research capability.

Energy and Water

A key priority of the Government of Pakistan is energy and there are opportunities for Scotland in both academia and business to work in wind, solar, small hydro systems, smart grids and energy efficiency, across both the commercial and domestic fronts. Clean water is a continuing challenge for Pakistan¹⁰ and we will work to increase the sharing of Scottish academic and business expertise around energy and water technologies, with a particular focus on rural areas.

The Scottish Government is committed to making Scotland a Hydro Nation, sharing our expertise in water treatment and management to help nurture it for long-term and sustainable use. We will look for opportunities to partner with Pakistan on sharing best practice on both the management of water and the use of water purification and waste-water treatment technologies. Collaboration in this way can enhance Scotland’s profile but will also provide social and economic benefit to Pakistan.

Scotland and Pakistan both have a strong tradition of entrepreneurship. We will look at how we can build on this and support young entrepreneurs to develop business based around new technologies in energy and water.

What is our long-term ambition?

Establishment of collaborative relationships between Scotland and Pakistan in water and energy.

Understand how Scottish technologies for water purification, waste water treatment and flood mitigation in rural areas can be used in Pakistan.

Contribute to Sustainable Development Goal Six to ensure access to water and sanitation for all.

Contribute to Sustainable Development Goal Seven to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

Culture and Heritage

Pakistan has a diverse and rich culture that creates endless opportunity to enrich Scottish culture and artistic practice and to build long lasting partnerships. There is also a wealth of Scottish expertise that can assist and inspire Pakistani practitioners. Scottish Government activities (networking, influencing, making connections, championing) are designed to encourage and create the right conditions for the cultural sector to engage. This engagement can look at areas of mutual interest including the use of disability in the arts and the protection of the historic environment.

What is our long-term ambition?

Development of long-term cultural relationships between Scotland and Pakistan.

Greater awareness around Pakistani culture in Scotland and Scottish culture in Pakistan.

Maximised impact of Scottish cultural activity in Pakistan through effective coordination with other Scottish agencies and partners.

Contribution towards improving Scotland’s sustainable economic growth by promoting the visibility of Scottish cultural acts in Pakistan.

European Union

Aim: Encourage engagement with the European Union.

Our ambitions for working with Pakistan align with the first three objectives of the International Framework. However, within this objective it is important that Scotland presents its views as appropriate on any EU-Pakistan agreements or collaborations.

Delivery

This strategy for engagement with Pakistan is clearly aligned with the Scottish Government’s overarching International Framework. Reporting on the success of the delivery of this engagement strategy will be through the International Framework’s reporting mechanisms, such as the updates to the framework’s accompanying policy statement.

Find out more from some of the organisations involved

Trade, Investment and Enterprise

Scottish Development International http://www.sdi.co.uk/

Scottish Enterprise http://www.scottish-enterprise.com/

Highlands and Islands Enterprise http://www.hie.co.uk/

GlobalScots http://www.globalscot.com/

Scottish Chambers of Commerce http://www.scottishchambers.org.uk/

UK Trade and Investment https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-trade-investment

Lahore Chamber of Commerce http://www.lcci.com.pk/

Karachi Chamber of Commerce http://www.kcci.com.pk/

Education and Skills

Scottish Government http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Education

Universities Scotland http://www.universities-scotland.ac.uk/

Universities http://www.scotland.org/study-in-scotland/universities-in-scotland/

Colleges Scotland http://www.collegesscotland.ac.uk/member-colleges.html

Education Scotland http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/

Skills Development Scotland https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/

British Council Pakistan https://www.britishcouncil.pk

Scottish Qualifications Authority http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/70972.html

Energy and Water

Scottish Development International http://www.sdi.co.uk/

Highlands and Islands Enterprise http://www.hie.co.uk/

Scottish Government http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Environment

James Hutton Institute http://www.hutton.ac.uk/

Centre of Expertise for Water http://www.crew.ac.uk/

Scottish Environment Protection Agency http://www.sepa.org.uk/

Water Industry Commission for Scotland http://www.watercommission.co.uk/

Scottish Water International http://www.scottishwater.co.uk/business/international

Hydro Nation Scholars Programme http://www.hydronationscholars.scot/

Community Energy Scotland http://www.communityenergyscotland.org.uk/

Culture and Heritage

Creative Scotland http://www.creativescotland.com/

British Council Scotland http://scotland.britishcouncil.org/

National Performing Companies http://www.gov.scot/Topics/ArtsCultureSport/arts/Sponsored-bodies/NationalPerformingCompanies

National Museums Scotland http://www.nms.ac.uk/explore/introducing-our-collections/

Scottish Ten Project http://www.scottishten.org/property4

VisitScotland http://www.visitscotland.com/

VisitBritain https://www.visitbritain.org/

Celtic Connections http://www.celticconnections.com/Pages/default.aspx

National Galleries of Scotland https://www.nationalgalleries.org/

Footnotes

1 http://www.finance.gov.pk/survey_1415.html

2 Source: UN revision of World Population Prospects

3 http://www.commerce.gov.pk/?page_id=5

4 http://kff.org/global-indicator/urban-population/

5 Source: Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey 2013-14.

6 http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/improving-schools-in-scotland.htm

7 Source: The Times Higher Education world rankings – 2015

8 Funding allocated until 2017.

9 https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/

10 http://www.wateraid.org/where-we-work/page/pakistan