Call to set up economic zone in South Asia

Punjab Governor, Lieutenant General Khalid Maqbool (Retd) has said that in order to rid 1.5 billion people of South Asia from poverty, there is a need to develop the whole region as a big economic zone. He observed this during a meeting with a delegation of Indian industrialists and traders which, led by President of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Kanwar Onkar Singh, called on him here on Friday. President Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), Chaudhry Mohammad Saeed, LCCI chief Mian Misbah ur Rahman were also present on the occasion.
The governor said negotiations between India and Pakistan to settle their disputes and promote friendly relations on equitable basis were moving forward in right direction.
According to him, economic health of the both the countries was now far better than it was in the past. Now time has come that both countries should resolve their long-standing issues amicably and move forward the process of removing their existing trade imbalance. He observed that mutual economic co-operation among Asean countries has led to economic prosperity in entire Far Eastern region.
The size of mutual trade between Taiwan and China has touched 75 billion dollars mark. These are the radiant example of economic progress in Asia which the Saarc member countries must follow and adopt a joint strategy to extend the scope of their trade and economic co-operation from Central Asia to Thailand and Darul Islam Brunei.
At present, he said the volume of illegal trade between Pakistan and India via Dubai and Singapore was 2 billion dollars while the size of legal trade between the two sides was not more than 400 million dollars. Indian traders are importing goods worth of 98 million dollars from Pakistan while Pakistan was getting engineering goods and other material worth of 300 million dollars.
The governor, however, expressed the hope that the leadership of both the countries will demonstrate more far sightedness than past to resolve human problems of the region.
He also expressed the hope that in the next five years the size of free trade between the two sides will reach 10 billion dollars mark.
Meanwhile, High Commissioner of Darul Islam Brunei Colonel Abdul Jalil (Retd) called on the governor and discussed with him matters pertaining to mutual interest and ways and means to further strengthen the relations between the two Islamic countries.
Earlier, a 30-member delegation of students and teachers of Institute of Education and Research of Punjab University, also met with the governor.