LAHORE: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, while reiterating that Pakistan desires peaceful relations with all the neighbouring countries for peace and stability in the region, underlined the need for establishing new trade centres in the region to strengthen economic and trade relations.
Qureshi also reiterated Pakistan's readiness to enhance cooperation among member countries and development partners in the health sector, with particular focus on Covid-19.
It may be noted that Pakistan has the highest coronavirus testing capacity to date among all South Asian countries at 20,000 tests a day. Noting that the Covid-19 pandemic was an "unprecedented challenge" that has become one of the biggest catalysts after World War II, Qureshi said health experts around the world were trying their level best to come up with strategies to curb the virus till a vaccine could be made available.
Foreign minister expressed these views in a letter to business leader Iftikhar Ali Malik on becoming president, SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI). Qureshi hoped that Malik will continue to use his best abilities for the promotion of trade and industry not only in the region but also in Pakistan.
He added that Iftikhar Ali Malik is a seasoned businessman and he would utilize his all abilities and experiences to bring all the SAARC countries further closer and help them enhance trade among all the member states.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Prime Minister Imran Khan had proposed that developed countries may facilitate developing countries to meet the challenge through debt restructuring so that they can use limited resources to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on their economies and provide effective relief to the people.
Iftikhar Malik said due to lack of physical infrastructure to unleash the economic potential of the region, SAARC CCI had also identified some projects of energy, connectivity and taking advantage of value addition in the information technology sector.
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