Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Thursday said his four-day visit to three Saarc member countries has further improved Pakistan's image as an enlightened, moderate and dynamic country. Talking to newsmen aboard his special plane, on his way back from Dhaka to Islamabad, the Prime Minister said the successful visit would help further improve economic, trade, cultural and diplomatic ties with the member states.
He said, besides bilateral ties, multilateral relations were discussed in the context of Saarc during his talks with the leadership of Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.
The Prime Minister, who visited the three countries in his capacity as the chairman of Saarc, also offered Pakistan's assistance in various fields including civil and military, trade and commerce, education and technology.
Shaukat Aziz said he discussed the role of private sector during his meetings with the leaders of these countries to give further boost to economic and trade ties for the mutual benefit of the people of Saarc member states.
The Prime Minister said he apprised them of the composite dialogue process between Pakistan and India to resolve all the outstanding issues including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir.
Prime Minister Aziz said he also conveyed the feelings and sentiments of Pakistan government and people that they want the dialogue process with India to reach its logical conclusion by settling all disputes between them.
Shaukat Aziz said he also offered co-operation to Nepal in the fields of defence, training of civil and military officials, export credit facilities to buy engineering goods and defence equipment.
He said Pakistani business community has invested in textile sector in Nepal while Habib Bank is also operating in Kathmandu and added that he would encourage the private sector to be more active in this country.
Shaukat Aziz who is the first ever Pakistani leader to visit Bhutan, a member of Saarc, said that Pakistan could benefit from the success of Bhutan in hydro-power electricity projects.
The Prime Minister said Pakistan could also set up small hydro-project on the pattern of Bhutan to meet the shortage of electricity in the country.
He said Minister of State for Water and Power Engineer Amir Muqam, who was with him on the visit, held initial discussions with officials of Bhutan for co-operation in this sector.
Shaukat Aziz said he also proposed to appoint a representative of government of Pakistan to Bhutan as presently, Pakistan did not have its embassy there. He hoped that with the appointment of the representative in Bhutan, the co-ordination and interaction between the two countries would improve.
Shaukat Aziz said Pakistan has also offered export credit facilities to Bhutan to buy goods from Pakistan.
Replying to a question about his visit to Bangladesh, the Prime Minister said Pakistan has deep-rooted relations with this brotherly Islamic country and added that as a result of his visit these bonds would be further strengthened.
The Prime Minister said the trade volume between the two brotherly countries had doubled in the last year and currently stands at $250 million.
He, however, expressed the hope that the trade volume could reach to one billion dollars.
Shaukat Aziz said during his meeting with Bangladeshi leaders and business community, the issue of Free Trade Agreement was also discussed.
This, he added, could give tremendous boost to economic and trade relations between the two brotherly countries.
Shaukat Aziz said Pakistan has also agreed to increase the number of scholarships for Bangladesh students.
Pakistan, he added, also agreed to the proposal by Prime Minister Khaleda Zia for setting up Saarc Poverty Alleviation Fund for the benefit of all the member states.
Shaukat Aziz said leaders of these three countries appreciated the role of Pakistan in Saarc and in other regional organisations to promote mutual relations.
These countries also acknowledged the leadership and statesmanship of President General Pervez Musharraf and they especially appreciated his vision of "enlightened moderation" to bridge the gap between the Islamic world and the West.
The Prime Minister said there is great respect and honour for Pakistan in these countries and hoped that his current visit would further promote this respect and importance.
He said he also held talks with Secretary General of Bangladesh National Party Abdul Rehman and emphasised the need to further promote political and people to people relations through more interaction between the political parties.
Answering a question about the outcome of his tour, the Prime Minister said his tour remained very successful and useful as he got a chance to have personal interaction with the leaders of three member states of Saarc to further improve Pakistan's relations with these countries.
He said the tour would also be helpful to further improve the importance of Saarc for mutual benefit of member countries as he discussed the pace of implementation on the decisions of 12th summit held in Islamabad. He said he also discussed the proposed agenda of 13th summit scheduled in January next.
The Prime Minister spent very busy time during these four days.
He was accorded warm and cordial hospitality in all these three countries.
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