Globalization provides opportunities for developing countries to progress economically and increase human development. This paper defines the difference between economic development and human development and shows that Pakistan is at the low end of human development, while Kazakhstan is at and average level, considered a middle income country. Human development goes beyond measures of GDP, literacy rates, and life expectancy. Factors such as education, gender equality, welfare, and human rights are also very important. Introduction
In this paper we discuss the economic, social, and human development of Kazakhstan and Pakistan in the era of globalization. For the purpose of this discussion, we treat economic, social, and human development as essential the same, in contrast to economic growth of the respective countries. The distinction between growth and development is important, since we are focusing on the impact of globalization and development on each countrys society. Economic growth refers to the increasing ability of a nation to produce more goods and services.
Economic development implies that individuals of that nation will be better off due to changes in economic and social structures that will reduce or eliminate poverty. Economic development can be measured in a number of different ways including the Human Development Index, a Gender Empowerment Measure, a Human Poverty Index and a Human Freedom Index. All of these measures were developed by the United Nations Development Program. Globalization can have both negative and positive affects on a nation. It can impact levels of economic growth a country may experience, impact levels of unemployment or impact a countrys quality of life.
While, theoretically, having an increasing national output means greater material welfare and a rise in living standards, it does not equate to having higher levels of well being for individuals in that nation. Economic growth can, in fact, have negative impacts on a nation including environmental degradation and the loss of traditional cultural values. It also may mean there is greater inequality between different classes in society, that is, the gap between the rich and the poor may grow. It is for these reasons that economic development measurements are also used.
Economic growth as a measure fails to account for other important social and economic factors such as the size of the black market, domestic work which is not given a financial value, the level of damage to the environment and inequalities in income distribution. Various indicators have been developed to compensate for the limitations of economic growth measurements. Rather than just measuring the economic living standards in a country, development indicators measure the welfare of individuals in that country.
The main development indicator used is the Human Development Index (HDI), devised by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to measure the economic achievements of a nation in combining economic growth as well as social welfare. The HDI takes into account three major factors: Life expectancy at birth: High levels of longevity are critical for a countrys economic and social well being. Levels of educational attainment: The HDI measures adult literacy and the ratio of people in primary, secondary and tertiary education. Gross Domestic Product per capita: seen as being a measurement of the ability of people to access goods and services.
The HDI is essentially a score between 0 and 1. A score of 0 would mean no human development has taken place and a score of 1 is the maximum amount of human development. In 2001, Kazakhstan and Pakistan were ranked as number 76 and 144, respectively. Kazakhstans index was 0. 765, which is above the world average of 0. 722, and can be considered a middle income country with medium human development. The regional index for East Asia and the Pacific coincides with the world average of 0. 722. Pakistan on the other hand is ranked much lower at 144, with an index of 0. 499.
This indicates that the country is far below the world average and even lower than the average low income country with an index value of 0. 561. It is also in the category of low human development and does not even come close the above mentioned regional average. Globalization can impact a nation in a variety of ways. A positive effect of globalization for many nations is that it allows for them to achieve higher levels of economic growth. With higher levels of trade, world output will increase which should mean higher levels of economic growth followed by increased standards of living. Globalization has also affected unemployment rates.
It has created millions of jobs throughout the world. Twenty-seven million jobs worldwide are now related to exportation. Even with these jobs being created, unemployment is still a major problem for most countries. With increased competition from transnational corporations, domestic employers must remain competitive and to do this they seek improved efficiency. This may mean reducing the amount of staff they have. Also, globalization has meant that new technologies have been developed to improve efficiency. When new technology is implemented it generally means some jobs are made redundant.
Another reason domestic unemployment may rise because of globalization is that free trade has made many sectors of the domestic market uncompetitive with the global market. Globalization also impacts the quality of life for nations. When countries open themselves up to international competition governments must apply economic rationalist principles. They may cut government spending in essential areas such as health, welfare and education thus reducing the quality of life in this nation. Also, countries with minimal government regulation often attract large transnational companies.
This could result in the exploitation of the workers and the environment in countries where quality of life may already be low. Essentially, the difference between economic growth and economic development is that one is a quantitative measure (growth) and the other is a qualitative measure (development). Literature Review Our sources of information are mainly journal articles and non-government-organization reports; published over the last few years regarding issues in Kazakhstan and Pakistan that we believe have an impact on growth and development.
Out of the numerous articles, we examined, the ones summarized below have the greatest relevance to our discussion. Julian Sanchez (2003) writes in an article that Surjit S. Bhalla, a former World Bank economist, has calculated, using empirical data, that over the past fifty years, the poor have actually gotten richer, due to globalization. This is a very important finding for our report, since it provides objective proof that globalization benefits the people of poor countries as well, contrary what subjective claims by globalization protesters say.
Richard Easterlin (2000) provides some key findings in, The Globalization of Human Development, which support our efforts in distinguishing economic growth from human development. He says that the focus on GDP per capita by policymaker is a fear many critics have, since this policies focus on economic growth rather than a balance of human development, in attempts to obtain prosperity for their country. Easterlin (2000) also points out that experiments are done to include human rights into the HDI (human development index), which leads us to reason that this is an important factor of human development to consider in our discussion.
Another indicator of human development is the fertility rate, which shows womens status, yet is not often used in measures of human development, though Easterlin (2000) claims that it is a major change in the family life and womens roles. He says that Europe in the 1950 saw its fertility decline, which typically lagged the mortality decline, and consequently increased population growth temporarily (Easterlin, 2000). This provides us with an important tool to look for early indications of human development, especially in Pakistan, which is still very low on the HDI.
The World of Information Business Intelligence Report Pakistan (2001) provides us with objective facts about the country and its current state of development. Important findings are that the majority, 97 per cent, are Muslims, which has significant implications for our discussion on the role of women in Pakistani society. The annual foreign direct investment has been comparatively low at US$467. 00 million in the year 2000. Information on the state of health services provided to the people is an important factor in human development.
Pakistanis have a life expectancy at birth of 61 years. Yet, infant mortality rate is at 82. 49 deaths per 1,000 live births and only 46 per cent of births were attended by health staff. Public spending on health still remains very low, at only 0. 8 percent of GDP, which means that fewer than 800 hospitals for the entire country are available, and provide less than one hospital bed for every 1,000 people, and one doctor for every 2,000 people. In urban areas, 80 percent of the population has access to safe drinking water, while in rural areas this number drops to 50 percent.
Another essential characteristic of human development is the education provided to the people, yet in Pakistan, financial constraints forced the government to cut down the Public Sector Development Program by US$166. 7 million in 2000. This program was supposed to increase spending on higher education from 0. 39 percent to 1 percent of GNP. The adult illiteracy rate is at 40. 1 percent for men and 68. 9 percent for women. Yet, the enrollment rate in secondary school has increased from 29 percent to 40 percent.
Public welfare, which alleviates poverty in the society, and therefore contributes to human development, has been adopted in Pakistan in the year 2000, with a program to create job opportunities and provide basic civic amenities. Aside from social development, a shift in economic production from manufacturing to services usually indicates a generally higher level of development. In Pakistan, the services sector has the highest productivity levels, contributing 49 per cent to GDP while employing 17 per cent of the workforce.
Along with services, an effective banking system is important, to provide the levels of economic growths that support human development. In Pakistan, since the year 2000, all bank transactions and financial dealings have to be conducted in strict accordance with Sharia (Islamic law), which forbids usury or payment of interest. This can lead to difficulties in attaining a free market economy or attracting foreign capital. Another factor that supports economic growth as well as human development is the wide availability of energy.
Pakistan has 17GW of electric generating capacity, but only less than half the population is connected to the national grid and significant growth in demand is expected in the long-term. Pakistan has a significant drawback in the area of child labor. Human development suggest that child labor should be prohibited, since young children are better off getting an education in school, instead of doing hard work in mines. Despite the child protection laws that have been passed in 1992, Pakistan remains one of the largest domestic exploiters and exporters (mostly to the Middle East) of child labor in the world.
Another relevant article is the Pakistan National Human Development Report by Hussain (2003). This report sheds light on the conflict between what is good for human development and the reality faced by the majority of Pakistanis. Young schoolchildren for example are dropping out at high rates because the household is facing adversity and gets pushed into such acute poverty that it is forced to send the children to work for a pittance rather than continue with education (Hussain, 2003).
On the topic of fertility rates, the author points out that Pakistan is trapped in a vicious cycle due to high fertility rates, high population growth rates, ill health and poverty (Hussain, 2003). A small trend in paid employment by women emerges as an important determinant in womens intra household decision making authority, due to contributions to family income (Hussain, 2003). In this respect, Hussain (2003) says that the key factor that determines whether a poor household shifts out of poverty or moves deeper into poverty is the share of household income contributed by the second earner.
Therefore he claims that establishing the institutional basis for enabling the poor to increase their incomes, savings and investment, would not only constitute a direct attack on poverty but would also contribute to a faster and more equitable economic growth process (Hussain, 2003), which is in light with our other findings and our perception of human development. On the topic of women, the Asian Development Bank (2000) provides crucial information on the current state.
It says that an artificial divide between production and reproduction, created by the ideology of sexual division of labor, has placed women in reproductive roles as mothers and wives in the private arena of home and men in a productive role as breadwinners in the public arena. This has led to a low level of resource investment in women by the family and the State (Asian Development Bank, 2000). Statistics support this claim, pointing out that only 7 percent of households were headed by women in 1997.
Completing the vicious cycle is the pattern that preference is given to sons due to their productive role, when allocating household resources (Asian Development Bank, 2000). Sons of the family are given better education and skills to compete for resources in the public arena, while daughters are trained in domestic skills to be good mothers and wives (Asian Development Bank, 2000). Only those women belonging to the upper and middle classes have increasingly greater access to education and employment opportunities and can assume greater control over their lives.
On an educational note, Pakistan is behind most countries of the region in its literacy rate, even though it has improved since the countrys independence. And paradoxically, even though the rate of female enrollment in primary, secondary, and high schools has improved, the gender gap in the literacy rate is widening in Pakistan. Even though it has been proven that there is a critical link between literacy level and economic growth with regard to other social sectors, Pakistan continues to spend a meager amount of its resources on education (Asian Development Bank, 2000).
The report also addresses the issue of healthcare, which is very poor in Pakistan, since the majority of people do not have access to basic health care because of inadequate health facilities. The health indicators of women in Pakistan are among the worst in the world (Asian Development Bank, 2000). Nevertheless, some progress has been made, since 24 percent of married women now use contraceptives, which is a substantial increase from 9 percent in 1985 (Asian Development Bank, 2000).
This development is very important since above mentioned authors have shown that a high population grows rate, which outpaces human development, forces the people into a vicious cycle of poverty. The report points out the structural problems that lead to low female primary and middle-level education, which are the ideology of gender roles, cultural attitudes towards female education, reproduction of gender biases in educational curricula, poor governance, and a weak civil society. Yet, the article also points out that there has been a shit from curative to preventive concepts.
As well as from tertiary to primary health care, and towards an integrated life cycle approach to womens health, as reflected in the National Health Policy of Pakistan (Asian Development Bank, 2000). The government has also committed itself to promote womens employment by creating more opportunities for them. The specific programs include education, training, and skill development of women; promotion of female labor-based industries and credit provisions for self-employment (Asian Development Bank, 2000).
The structural problems facing womens economic activities still pose and obstacle because of gender-role ideology, capital accumulation based on exploitation of gender, race, and class, and nonrecognition of womens traditional roles as productive (Asian Development Bank, 2000). Women also face structural problems in the eyes of the law and politics. They are discriminated against on gender biases of judiciary and law enforcing agencies. The sexual division of labor, cultural view of politics as male arena, and the feudal and tribal structures precludes women from politics.
A further article on the difference of growth trends across developing countries (Nunnenkamp, 2002), reveals why Pakistan is lacking in economic growth. Nunnenkamp (2002) says that the relative income gains remained small in South Asian economies, including Pakistan. He argues that growth trends are positively correlated with factor accumulation. These variables can be influenced by policymakers in order to promote economic restructuring and an increase in productivity (Nunnenkamp, 2002).
He says that more resources devoted to investment, increases the per-capita income growth, which not only applies to fixed capital formation but also to human capital formation, in the form of average schooling years (Nunnenkamp, 2002). Pakistans poor growth performance is due to the low the lowest investment ratio among 18 sample countries in this study (Nunnenkamp, 2002). In regard to economic development, Pakistans avoidance of open trade has minimized the countrys growth opportunities.
According to World Bank data, Pakistan is classified a relatively closed economy on the significance of import duties (Nunnenkamp, 2002). These failures have put Pakistan into a position of persistently larger income gaps to industrial countries (Nunnenkamp, 2002). Looking for evidence that would show a turn in the trend of Pakistans underdevelopment, Lagerquist (2003), in his article Lahore calls for business, describes a new development in the service export sector.
The entry of Pakistan into the IT sector should be done through call centers. Yet, the author cautions and quote Ansari, the science and technology ministers adviser that he is the first do admit that call centers are on the lower value-added rungs of the IT-enabled service economy, but emphasizes that they are just the beginning: We recognize fully well that initially Pakistan will be perceived as a sweatshop, but this has a way of ballooning out (Lagerquist, 2003).
Before the Kashmir crisis with India, the ministry was predicting $400 million in overseas investment in IT in 2002, overtaking textiles as Pakistans largest investment sector (Lagerquist, 2003). Turning our attention to Kazakhstan, we obtained general information from the same source as we did for Pakistan, the World of Information Business Intelligence Report Kazakhstan (2000). According to this article, the two biggest religious groups are Muslim, 47 per cent, and Russian Orthodox, 44 per cent. The unemployment is reported at 4. per cent, yet it is thought to conceal the real picture since it does not account for hidden unemployment, underemployment or paid leave (World of Information Business Intelligence Report Kazakhstan, 2000). The real figure could be over 20 per cent. Kazakhstans primary and secondary educational sector has received a US$20 million loan from the Asian Development Bank in January 1996, which is meant to improve training for teacher and provide better teaching materials, as well as the development of a new curriculum.
This strongly points to human development, since we have seen earlier that increased investment in education and development are positively correlated. The matter of healthcare is a special case in Kazakhstan, since it used to be fairly standard across the Soviet Union but the breakdown in trade within the CIS and economic crisis has brought about a severe shortage of medicines and equipment (World of Information Business Intelligence Report Kazakhstan, 2000). This has led to the re-emergence of diseases such as cholera throughout central Asia.
In Kazakhstan, respiratory diseases are the most common illnesses because of the republics countless environmental problems. Even though clean drinking water is scarce, the countrys infant mortality rate of 25 per thousand compares favorably with other Asian countries. Life expectancy at birth in 1996 was estimated at 60 years for males and 70 years for females. On the issue of welfare, the former Soviet Union extensive system has been rendered worthless due to price liberalizations. Most Kazakhs hold down two or three jobs and rely heavily on privately grown food.
The government has said it intends to cushion low-income groups from the heaviest blows of economic reform but is under pressure not to stretch the budget for fear of hyperinflation (World of Information Business Intelligence Report Kazakhstan, 2000). Nevertheless, Kazakhstan has emerged as the former Soviet Unions role model in pension reform. In January the pay-as-you-go system was replaced with a privately managed and fully funded system (World of Information Business Intelligence Report Kazakhstan, 2000).
This reform is an important step in alleviating the mischief caused by the collapsed Soviet welfare program. On the topic of energy, Kazakhstan has to import large amounts of electricity to meet 15 per cent of its annual domestic demand of 105 billion kWh. Due to payment difficulties, some areas have experienced electricity shortages, which is not positive for economic development on a persistent basis. Looking at foreign direct investment per capita, Kazakhstan is receiving the highest of any of the Commonwealth of Independent States, at US$187.
Most of the FDI has been in the energy and mineral sectors. The countrys resurgence of Kazakh nationalism has led to discrimination against Russians and forced many to return to Russia since 1991, which were among the most skilled workers during the Soviet era. The relatively unskilled Kazakh workers have struggled to fill the gap left by the departing Russians, contributing to the already immense challenges facing Kazakh industry (World of Information Business Intelligence Report Kazakhstan, 2000).
Nina Aebi (2001) talks about Kazakhstans economic development and its problems, since the countrys sovereign status, which have led to disorder and lack of stability. According to the author, standardized theories of democratic development believe that there must be some economic development prior to democracy evolving, yet in the CIS it was inverted (Aebi, 2001). Kazakhstans attempt to repatriate funds from Kazakhs outside of Kazakhstan will not achieve its intended goal so long as there is no secure business environment in which investors may operate (Aebi, 2001).
Therefore, a political structure that supports investment is a pre-requisite for repatriation. She also points out hat the country needs a middle class to protect itself from anarchy. Without a cultural understanding of a middle-class, anarchy becomes the only alternative option to sustainable economic growth (Aebi, 2001). In the article Developing Sustainability: Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations in former Soviet Central Asia (Farmer & Farmer, 2001) the authors claim that the development of non-governmental organizations is an important step in the human development of that particular society.
In Kazakhstan, the most high profile environmental NGO is Green Salvation, based in Almaty. As with many NGOs, a primary focus of its activity is environmental education, undertaking courses in schools and universities. It also holds seminars within local communities where issues concerning sustainable development can be debated (Farmer & Farmer, 2001). The authors also point out that there is currently extensive debate about the concepts of globalization and its applications to the development of NGOs in developing countries (Farmer & Farmer, 2001).
The concept addresses the issue of whether environmental groups form a part of the emergence of global civic politics, based on the evidence that local environmental groups are increasingly influenced (and even directed) by international organizations. In their article, The Economic Consequences of Membership in the World Trade Organization, Trushin & Trushin (2000) outline the important benefits of Kazakhstans entry into the WTO. Increasing economic growth will support further human development in that country.
The main benefits of WTO entry are the reduction of trade barriers with other countries for Kazakhstans exports, as well as the consideration of Kazakhstan as a market economy, which has positive effects for the country. Membership is considered to be synonymous with being a reliable trading partner, and the countrys exports will be granted equal access to all markets of member states under the MFN status. This increase in trade will provide increased investment flow for national exporters with the strongest comparative advantage, which will help to accelerate economic growth.
The Social Watch Report (Bissio & Garc, 2002) provides informative data on the progress of both countries over the past decade concerning the various attributes of development we singled out above. The data is tabulated and key findings of relevance for this paper are that Pakistan has made progress in the area of nourishment of children, reproductive health, life expectancy, and drinking water and sanitary installations. Yet, the country is still underdeveloped in adult literacy and infant mortality. There have even been setbacks in various ratios of immunizing the people.
Even though there has been an increase in reproductive healthcare, the country is still underdeveloped in that area compared to the rest of the world. In gender equality, Pakistan has already been below world standards and has even regressed in that area. Kazakhstan on the other hand has made some regress in infant mortality, but progress when it comes to the immunization of children. The population access to sanitary installations and clean drinking water has also increased over the past years. In the area of gender equality, Kazakhstan made some progress in equal education for boys and girls.
The government has also spent more money education and health care in the recent years, which is a good facilitator in human development. As mentioned earlier, human development is attempted to be measured by using the HDI, and the experimental work done to include human rights has opened a whole new range of challenges. On the question of how to account for human rights, Sakiko (2001) provides some insides on measurement attempts. It is not just the final outcome that can be considered, when looking at human rights, because an average in that area might be deceptive because of great differences in high and low human rights.
Three characteristics play a role in accounting for human rights; those are the accountability of duty bearers, the conduct of duty bearers, and the progress in the four dimensions of non-discrimination, adequate progress, true participation, and effective remedy (Sakiko, 2001). Methodology The method used in preparing our argument has been one of obtaining a general knowledge of human development and globalization from literature on this topic. After we gained confidence in this topic, we researched other literature concerning specific issues referring to Kazakhstan or Pakistan.
We than used this information as evidence in our discussion to support the individual cases of each country and arrive at a conclusion of the state of development and possible progress in the future. We therefore rely heavily on the thorough work of other authors, whose articles we used to support ours. Discussion As the literature review shows that human development depends to a great part on actions taken by the individual government. Globalization is merely an opportunity that presents itself to a developing country.
It is up to the individual country to take a firm grip of that opportunity and develop the economic structures that attract foreign direct investment and increase trade. With economic growth as a basis, the country has to invest more resources in its people, which will support human development. As the Human Development Index measures it, three major factors are considered, GDP, life expectancy, and level of education. Yet, these are just three broad categories that provide a summary index of a countrys human development. In a general sense, human development goes much further.
The role of the woman, especially her equality in rights to male counterparts is an important factor to consider. A country, such as Pakistan, in which women are neglected, suppressed, and abused limits itself in achieving higher development, since a large part of the population is not able to participate in economic production or intellectual progress of the society. Limiting the role of women to housewives and mothers, which receive very little education, is essentially putting twice the burden on men, than in other countries where women have equal rights and responsibilities, to produce value.
Human development also depends to a great part on the level of education received in general by the countrys population. A high illiteracy rate, as is the case in Pakistan, stifles human development, since the people cannot participate in economic activities beyond agriculture or unskilled labor. It also limits the citizens possibilities to broaden their horizon beyond the knowledge of elementary things and therefore limits the society to a state in which no competitive advantage can be achieved, which is necessary to increase economic output and stimulate investment in society by a responsible government.
Kazakhstan today, has the benefit of already having had a good education system during the Soviet era, which is one of the reasons that the country is receiving the highest foreign direct investment among the CIS states. A key initiative in promoting education, especially for children, which are in their most efficient learning ages, is the abolishment of child labor. Kazakhstan did not show any evidence of child labor, as expected, due to the relatively high level of education.
Pakistan on the other hand has some of the highest child labor rates in the world, even though recent legislation has been passed to curtail this problem. Yet, it is still taking a great toll on human development in this society. Public welfare and pensions for the elderly are also critical in human development. In the area of globalization, a country that is opening up its economy and undergoing significant transformations in the structure of its workforce will see a development in which initially many jobs in uncompetitive industries will be eliminated.
Without a proper welfare system, which can support those that lost their jobs in providing for their families and seeking education and new employment, any country that undergoes such dramatic economic changes will lose a large part of its workforce to poverty. Welfare is not only a temporary aid for those that are transitioning from one area of employment to another industry, but also a catalyst in helping to alleviate poverty, by providing opportunities in education and employment markets.
Pakistan has taken steps in order to provide welfare support and civic amenities to the poorest of its citizens in order to increase human development. Kazakhstan on the other hand is coping with an obsolete pension system from the soviet era, which does not provide sufficient support in a market economy with liberal prices. Yet the country has taken steps to reform this system in order to increase human development levels for its retired workforce. One of the greatest challenges for Kazakhstan has been the fact that there was very little economic development, after the declaration of independence.
The driving out of qualified Russian workers due to nationalistic movements has taken an extra toll on the countries economy, since native Kazakhs do not have the proficiency to fill the left void. Yet the development of non-government organizations shows that Kazakhstan is moving beyond mere economic growth and is considering non-economic aspects of life improvement, such as a clean environment, which provides for a healthy living area and therefore increases human development.
The fact that Kazakhstan is making efforts to join the WTO is further evidence of its policy changes to provide a nurturing environment for human development to prosper in. Such efforts have not been undertaken by Pakistan. In contrast, Pakistan still has a closed economy and only recently made efforts to increase its service export sector, in order to gain access to the IT industry. Yet, an open economy, and integration into the global trade system is of crucial importance to provide grounds for human development in a society.
The fairly new consideration and experimental work on incorporating human rights into development measures is still controversial, and has been explored from a statistical point of view by some, such as Sakiko. The basic notion is that a vast array of participants plays a role in human rights, from parents and media, to the government and the community. Therefore it is not enough just to measure the result, but it is necessary to look at conduct as well.
Since the notion of human rights measurement is still very new, not much information on such is available, yet we believe that taking a general and uniform approach to compare different countries might not be the ultimate solution. Cultural values, such as Hofstedes dimensions and others, would make such attempts at rational classifications hard to compare since each culture puts a different emphasis on what constitutes effective human rights.
Specially, since the claims that conduct is just as important as final results would create subjectivity. Therefore, we believe that measuring human rights should be done in a culturally sensitive manner, so to avoid discrepancies in creating an objective scale; a culturally sensitive study should be done to determine what constitutes basic human rights across all cultures. With these results, a broad measure of the principal human rights could be obtained to make comparisons across all nations. Conclusion
In summary, human development is not the same as economic development, yet it needs economic development to progress in a society. Evidence has been shown that globalization has decreased the income gap between developing and developed countries, yet it is in the hands of the developing country to take advantage of the opportunities provided by globalization. The examples of Pakistan and Kazakhstan confirm this theory, since Pakistan has failed in many ways to invest into its people and economy, which has hindered human development.
Kazakhstan is increasingly taking opportunities of globalization and has already achieved the level of a middle income country. Managerial Implications Kazakhstan and Pakistan are both developing countries which each provide unique opportunities for todays global enterprises. Kazakhstan has a relatively well developed work force with expertise in the chemical and petrol industry. The countrys vast amount of resources and its increasingly stable political structure invite many foreign direct investors to help exploit the vast amount of oil and gas sources.
Pakistan is an underdeveloped country with an array of political problems and non-western market structures. The low level of education only permits for unskilled manufacturing opportunities, or required extensive training in other cases. Recent pushes by the government to increase its capabilities as an IT service provider provides some opportunities for foreign investors in that area, yet caution should be taken and political risks carefully evaluated before engaging in business with Pakistan.
