Research Associate

Mujtaba Arshad


Regional Connectivity and Integration

Mujtaba Arshad holds an M.Phil in Economics from Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, and specializes in regional connectivity and integration, global Supply value chains, port management, transportation and logistics planning, international trade facilitation, and CPEC-related economic research.

Pakistan
China
3+ Years of Experience
RESEARCH EXPERTISE

Regional Connectivity

Supply Chains

Port Management

Logistics Planning

International Trade

Trade Facilitation

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS

Policy Viewpoint
Aug 2026

The disruption in the Strait of Hormuz in early 2026 briefly redirected regional cargo flows  toward  Pakistan’s ports, with  Karachi  recording  an unprecedented…

Research Papers
Mar 2026

This study departs from conventional literature by using quarterly data instead of annual data, enabling a more detailed exploration of short-term and long-term exchange rate fluctuations…

Research Papers
Mar 2026

Previous research shows that developing economies are severely affected by external shocks as compared to developed countries. A subject of considerable interest for these countries with…

CONTACT & RESEARCH LINKS

PIDE, QAU Campus, Islamabad

PUBLICATIONS

Op-eds
Oct 2026

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) could expand into a regional trade network by incorporating Iran, linking Pakistan’s western border with broader economic opportunities. However, escalating Iran-US tensions, renewed fighting.

Op-eds
Oct 2026

Pakistan’s energy bill is usually discussed as if it begins and ends with the international price of crude. But the price paid for a barrel is only the beginning…

Op-eds
Oct 2026

On a treeless ridge more than 4,000 metres above sea level in southeastern Tibet, there is no road, and in many places no reasonable way to build one; the terrain is too steep and ecologically fragile…

Op-eds
Oct 2026

Ahsan Iqbal presented Pakistan’s ML-1 modernisation plan in Ulaanbaatar, highlighting the railway’s potential to expand trade, freight capacity and regional connectivity…

Op-eds
Sep 2026

Earlier this month, more than 80 metric tons of dried chilies from Pakistan arrived at the Chengdu International Railway Port. Packed into eight containers, the cargo entered China…

Op-eds
Sep 2026

Even as investment tops 327 billion rupees, firms at Allama Iqbal Industrial City report inadequate wastewater infrastructure, unreliable utilities, and no public transport…

Op-eds
Sep 2026

Two ports being described as “sister ports” can sound like a diplomatic formality, the kind of language that fills a joint statement and changes little on the ground…

Op-eds
Sep 2026

Rotating chairmanships rarely change anything. They produce a flag-handover ceremony, a communiqué full of familiar phrases, and a year of meetings that fade quietly…

Op-eds
Sep 2026

Two new railways are being planned across the map of Central Asia right now, but neither will fix the trade collapse on Pakistan’s existing routes while they are being built…

Op-eds
Aug 2026

The second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC 2.0) involves a trilateral geographical expansion aimed at connecting landlocked Afghanistan to the corridor…

Policy Viewpoint
Aug 2026

The disruption in the Strait of Hormuz in early 2026 briefly redirected regional cargo flows  toward  Pakistan’s ports, with  Karachi  recording  an unprecedented…

Op-eds
Aug 2026

For a border post most of the world has never heard of, Torkham carries an outsized weight this year. It is a narrow gap in the Kyber hills where trucks queue for days…

Op-eds
Aug 2026

At Al-Safa Palace in Makkah on August 7, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Pakistan…

Op-eds
Aug 2026

Pakistan built the highways, lit up the power plants, and dredged Gwadar into a working port. What it has not built is a way to turn any of that into more exports…

Op-eds
Aug 2026

Certain shipping patterns reveal how a country is viewed by its neighbours. It is not the vessels that dock matter most, because the goods they carry already move quietly…

Policy Brief
Jul 2026

Government focus and persistent incentives through ADP 2016-21 and AIDEP 2021-2026 have broken the Big-3 nexus and increased total number of automobile manufacturing and assembling firms to over 15 in Pakistan.

Op-eds
Jul 2026

For more than a decade, discussions about Gwadar Port have been dominated by geography. Analysts frequently point to its location outside the Strait of Hormuz…

Op-eds
Jul 2026

Every time Pakistan signs another agreement with the International Monetary Fund, you can practically predict the conversation that follows. Critics call it…

Op-eds
Jul 2026

Nineteen years ago, on February 6, 2007, Pakistan signed away Gwadar Port’s commercial future for four decades. The government would build the roads…

Op-eds
Jun 2026

AT a time when regional tensions have long constrained Pakistan’s economic potential, recent diplomatic engagement between the US and Iran with Pakistan…

Op-eds
May 2026

Opportunities in global trade do not always arrive with clear signals. Sometimes, they emerge quietly in crisis. Today, one such moment is unfolding in the…

Coming Soon.
Policy Viewpoint
Aug 2026

The disruption in the Strait of Hormuz in early 2026 briefly redirected regional cargo flows  toward  Pakistan’s ports, with  Karachi  recording  an unprecedented…

Op-eds
Oct 2026

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) could expand into a regional trade network by incorporating Iran, linking Pakistan’s western border with broader economic opportunities. However, escalating Iran-US tensions, renewed fighting.

Op-eds
Oct 2026

Pakistan’s energy bill is usually discussed as if it begins and ends with the international price of crude. But the price paid for a barrel is only the beginning…

Op-eds
Oct 2026

On a treeless ridge more than 4,000 metres above sea level in southeastern Tibet, there is no road, and in many places no reasonable way to build one; the terrain is too steep and ecologically fragile…

Op-eds
Oct 2026

Ahsan Iqbal presented Pakistan’s ML-1 modernisation plan in Ulaanbaatar, highlighting the railway’s potential to expand trade, freight capacity and regional connectivity…

Op-eds
Sep 2026

Earlier this month, more than 80 metric tons of dried chilies from Pakistan arrived at the Chengdu International Railway Port. Packed into eight containers, the cargo entered China…

Op-eds
Sep 2026

Even as investment tops 327 billion rupees, firms at Allama Iqbal Industrial City report inadequate wastewater infrastructure, unreliable utilities, and no public transport…

Op-eds
Sep 2026

Two ports being described as “sister ports” can sound like a diplomatic formality, the kind of language that fills a joint statement and changes little on the ground…

Op-eds
Sep 2026

Rotating chairmanships rarely change anything. They produce a flag-handover ceremony, a communiqué full of familiar phrases, and a year of meetings that fade quietly…

Op-eds
Sep 2026

Two new railways are being planned across the map of Central Asia right now, but neither will fix the trade collapse on Pakistan’s existing routes while they are being built…

Op-eds
Aug 2026

The second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC 2.0) involves a trilateral geographical expansion aimed at connecting landlocked Afghanistan to the corridor…

ACADEMIC JOURNEY

M.Phil in Economics
Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad
2022- 2024

MSc Economics
University of Peshawar, Peshawar
2020- 2022

BA (Hons) Economics
Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad
University of Peshawar, Peshawar
2016- 2019