The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Sunday said it will fully cooperate with the government in making South Asian Economic Union (SAEU) a reality as soon as possible as it is need of the hour.
South Asia has countless development opportunities and vast potential to meet the growth requirements of its people but unfortunately majority of the masses continue to reel under poverty due to conflicts, Abdul Rauf Alam, President FPCCI said.
Regional organisations are one of the most suitable means to normalise the relations among the regional partners and to channelise the co-operative gestures into the right tract besides a sense of security among the members, he added.
President FPCCI lauded the resolve of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to establishing SAEU to ensure regional development while rooting out poverty, hunger and illiteracy from the region which was once very rich. "I have no doubt that Saarc nations would join hands for SAEU to provide a viable way of getting over one billion people of our region out of poverty through regional cooperation which is the only option for rapid socio-economic progress," he added.
Rauf Alam said we have vast fertile lands, mineral resources, manpower, deep seas, large mountain range and gifted people and what we need is to join hands to exploit resources for the economic and social uplift of masses knotted in the clutches of poverty and hunger.
He noted that unfinished agendas and some political disputes have been delaying the process of regional integration which needs special attention of all the countries of the grouping to move ahead.
Saarc was formed in 1985 but when compared with the other regional organisations like EU, ASEAN etc on the success meter, SAARC is far behind in conflict resolution, intra-regional trade etc as SAARC has not been able to grow as a successful regional organisation which is unfortunate, he said.
Regional economic and trade integration of SAARC countries has great potential to offer opportunities for the collective uplift of the region representing 21 percent of the world's population and 9.12 percent of the global economy, he emphasised.
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