- For Pakistan, reliability may be the new currency of cooperation
The Munich Security Conference has long been the place where uncomfortable truths surface. Each February, it gathers heads of state, ministers, business leaders and experts in Munich to debate the most pressing international security challenges. In 2026, with more than 70 global leaders in attendance, the conference meets amid renewed uncertainty about the transatlantic relationship and at a moment when security debates are inseparable from competitiveness, energy, technology and supply chains.
From Germany’s perspective, longstanding expectations about predictable alliances, stable markets and reliable crisis management are under strain. Shocks travel faster than institutions adapt: through energy prices, shipping and insurance costs, cyber disruption and sudden shifts in political risk. Germany’s conclusion is a European wake-up call: Europe must become more capable of defending itself, more resilient against systemic shocks, and more deliberate about the dependencies it accepts and the partnerships it invests in.
Germany’s priorities follow from that.
First, a stronger European defence and readiness so that deterrence is credible and crisis response is faster.
Second, resilience as national security: protecting energy systems, ports, logistics and digital infrastructure against disruption.
Third, a geoeconomic mindset: reducing dangerous dependencies and diversifying supply chains so that trade cannot be weaponised.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz captured the logic in a single sentence: “Our power today rests on three pillars: our security, our competitiveness, and our (European) unity.”
This recalibration matters beyond Europe because it changes how Europe cooperates. The era of declaratory partnership is fading. The new test is practical reliability: can we trust supply chains under pressure, the security of digital systems, and the integrity of cross-border transactions? Can partners help manage shared risks such as illicit finance, trafficking, and cybercrime, rather than amplifying them? Europe will increasingly invest political attention and economic engagement where cooperation can be trusted under pressure.
Why does this matter to Pakistan? Because these shifts shape decisions that touch Pakistan directly: market access, investment flows, mobility arrangements and the prioritisation of cooperation. Pakistan and Germany share a structural similarity: both are middle powers whose prosperity depends on rules, predictability and partnerships. When the global order tilts from rules toward leverage, middle powers pay first: through higher risk premiums, more volatile commodity prices and higher financing costs. The only answer is reliable cooperation.
Trade is the clearest transmission channel. The European Union is Pakistan’s most important export destination, and the relationship is significantly shaped by GSP+ preferences. Under GSP+, more than 85% of Pakistani exports to the EU enter duty- and quota-free, supporting jobs and export earnings, while linking market access to governance and sustainability commitments.
In a world where companies are redesigning supply chains for resilience, Europe’s “de-risking” lens can cut both ways. If Pakistan is seen primarily through the lens of risk, capital becomes costlier, and buyers diversify elsewhere. If Pakistan is seen as reliable, diversification will work in Pakistan’s favour.
That opportunity depends on practical steps aligned with Europe’s filters: predictable regulation, efficient customs and port processes; energy reliability for industry; credible compliance and traceability; and safeguards that protect legitimate trade. These are domestic reforms, but they translate directly into competitiveness, and they lower the cost of capital by reducing perceived risk.
The more competitive and successful Pakistan’s economy proves to be, the better the prospects for a further deepening of the Pakistan-Europe partnership. For European companies, the question is increasingly not “where is it cheapest today?” but “where will it remain viable under disruption tomorrow?”
A more discerning approach in Europe creates room for constructive, future-oriented cooperation. Germany and Pakistan can build targeted partnerships with measurable outcomes on standards and quality infrastructure, energy efficiency and industrial upgrading or trade facilitation that reduces time and cost at the border. On mobility, Germany needs skilled labour paired with credible reintegration support and joint action against smuggling networks. Done well, this makes legal mobility more sustainable and irregular routes less profitable.
Germany’s point from Munich is simple: the world is harder, so partnerships must be sturdier. Europe’s wake-up call will change how it engages globally, especially where economics and security overlap. Pakistan might want to grasp this moment not to “choose sides”, but to secure its interests in a landscape where competitiveness, resilience and reliability are becoming the most valuable currency.
BY: Writer Ms. Ina Lepel is a scholar and currently serves as the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Pakistan
