Distinguished speakers, scholars and professionals, I am honored to be part of today’s Global Conference on the Multipolarity (GCM-1). I would like congratulate both participants and listeners of GCM-I to become part of this sacred cause, which once was merely a theoretical manifestation but today we are really experiencing the crumbling of the old Western-centric world order.

The dawn of the 21st century marked a significant transformation at the geopolitical and geoeconomics spheres due to the emergence of new economic, political and civilizational poles in key regions of the world such as China and India in Asia, Russia in Eurasia, South Africa in African continent, and Brazil in Latin America. The emergence of these new power centers outside the western sphere literally propelled the major transition at both regional and global levels. Today, the multipolarity can be witnessed at the regional level both in terms of economic cooperation between regional countries and institutional building. For instance, BRICS, SCO Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and AIIB are the key components and foundations of the multipolar process which has gained a significant pace in the last one decade. Today, BRICS has overtaken G7 in terms of GDP and Economic growth that clearly signals the decline of unipolar moment and so-called old order mainly led by the collective West. Hence, when it comes to multipolarity, the realization of the global politics goes beyond the understanding of the evolving trends across the global spectrum.

Ladies and gentlemen, the time has arrived when multipolarity has become a geopolitical reality transcending from a mere theoretical manifestation decades ago. Since its inception my country Pakistan has become the victim of the vicious geopolitical game waged by the West by joining the western camp during the Cold War. As a signatory to the CENTO and SEATO, Pakistan acted as a pawn of the West in its vicious geopolitical fight against the Soviet Union. The gross Foreign Policy failures on the part of our leaders brought Pakistan on the brink disaster and incessant chaos which is still hindering its progress and development despite being a Nuclear State. Though, in the last decade Pakistan for the first time attempted to abandon the Western bloc by joining the China’s Belt and Road initiative. As a result of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), China vowed to invest 68 billion dollars in Pakistan developing key economic zones, infrastructure marvels and providing developmental loans. However, due to incessant pressure from the West especially the U.S. and the political elites of Pakistan repeated the mistake of their predecessors with vile attempts to dump the China-led mega economic corridor initiative.

Since the inauguration of CPEC project, China has only invested 17 billion dollars in developing the North-South route and the rest of the investment was blocked due to west sponsored political instability and security reasons in Pakistan. It is time the leaders of Pakistan should wake before it is too late to reclaim their share in the emerging multipolar world just like India and other regional countries in Asia. The emerging nations in Eurasia such as China, India and Russia are providing mammoth opportunities for the regional connectivity and development. It is time Pakistan should abandon Western Euphoria and join the emerging multipolar process led by China, India, South Africa, Russia and Brazil.

Without wasting time, once again I want to say thank you to all the organizers who successfully organized this conference and encouraged us to share our views on multipolarity.