THE ARBITRATION GAP: WHAT PAKISTAN CAN LEARN FROM ASTANA

Abstract

This publication reflects the views of the author(s) and not necessarily those of ARS or its affiliates.

ARS distinguishes between reported facts, official projections, third-party estimates and ARS analytical judgments. Where public sources conflict, competing figures are reported rather than reconciled without evidence. Pakistan has spent much of the past decade pursuing reforms to its arbitration framework without establishing the institutional infrastructure needed to give those reforms practical effect. Kazakhstan, by contrast, responded to a similar credibility challenge by establishing a dedicated international arbitration institution in Astana and subsequently incorporating it into its broader investment and financial centre proposition. This insight examines why Pakistan, despite costly investor state disputes and repeated proposals for reform, still lacks a comparable institutional forum for resolving complex international disputes.