Pakistan, India, China and 19 other countries have pledged to move "hand-in-hand" to build a better Asia, ensuring good living conditions for their people.
In a five-page declaration on "Asia Co-operation", adopted at the end of the Asian Co-operation Dialogue (ACD) here, the foreign ministers of these countries decided to intensify dialogue process to resolve their differences to concentrate on their economic progress.
Recognising the differences, they agreed to seek common ground, enhancing their co-operation at the regional and international levels.
Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri led the Pakistan's delegation, which also included Pakistan Ambassador to China Riaz Mohammad Khan.
Addressing the ACD's seminar, Kasuri said that Pakistan was prepared to play an active role in the regional forums to achieve economic prosperity and improve the socio-economic life of their people.
He said the Asian countries needed to make collective efforts to check the increasing disparities and a widening gap between the rich and the poor.
Kasuri, during his 15-minute speech, highlighted Pakistan's priorities in economic sector, and said:" We are making utmost efforts to improve the living conditions of our people."
He hoped the ACD would help foster closer co-operation and promote inter-dependence among Asian countries in a number of important areas of common interest.
Pakistan, he said, was looking forward to the maximum utilisation of Asia's potential and strengths with a view to eventually transforming the Asian continent into an Asian community sometime in the future.
The Minister said the world today was fraught with dangers, which varied from terrorism to new regional conflicts while old disputes remained unresolved, adding that there were ominous tendencies of unilateralism and corresponding weakening of the United Nations system.
Simultaneously, he added, globalisation was unfolding itself as an unavoidable, unrelenting and irreversible phenomenon. With its attendant risks and mixed impact, globalisation presented another set of formidable challenges, he said.
Kasuri called for devising ways and means to manage globalisation to maximise dividends and minimise its hazards, especially for the poor and the already marginalised segments of the international community to put Asia on a trajectory of self-generating growth.
Lauding China's rapid economic growth, Kasuri said China, as a neighbour of all major sub-regions of Asia, was uniquely well placed to promote intra-regional economic co-operation and to bolster economic development in its neighbourhood.
"We welcome China's growing economic interests in our region as China expands its investment capacity overseas and becomes an exporter of capital. China is well placed to assume a key role for consolidation of peace and transformation of the economic scenario of our continent," he added.
Kasuri emphasised the ACD must devise a process to exchange views on experiences in generating domestic and regional demand.
Pakistan, he said, could not over-emphasise the importance of movement towards the creation of an Asian Bond Market, energy security, agricultural co-operation and development of an Asian Standards Institute to catalyse inter-regional trade and integration.
Pakistan, he said, also saw substantial benefits in co-operation in tourism amongst the ACD countries.
In co-operation with Thailand as the lead prime mover, he said, Pakistan would be interested in hosting a workshop in Pakistan on the promotion of tourism.
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