SCO moot

President Asif Ali Zardari has, over the passage of time, been quite successful in building a soft, progressive image of Pakistan. The credit goes to his incessant efforts to make use of every available opportunity to present the real, moderate face of Pakistan to the external world.
May it be a state visit or his presence in any summit of a regional or higher scope and scale, President Zardari is always found presenting Pakistan's case with candour and courage as if with the belief that his efforts would soon bear fruit and bring Pakistan its lost glory and good image (it earned bad name in the wake of worst degree of terrorism and extremism carried out in the name of religion).
The same zeal and fervour a la Zardari was witnessed once again during latter's recent Kazakhstan visit to attend the 10th summit of Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) that is now rapidly becoming a success story like a few other regional co-operation bodies.
The question essentially is not that of zeal or fervour. In fact, when we talk of Zardari's zeal about Pakistan's case and about Pakistan's cause, it implies his restlessness to find a solution to the national crises with international or regional co-operation. This is being highly pragmatic. Now, even economic and military giants of the world are looking towards other countries, especially the neighbours, for co-operation. Main focus is economic betterment and prosperity as is also the case with SCO.
He is always saying, 'we want trade, not aid'. This demand made by President Zardari has been well received in foreign capitals as it reflects Islamabad's approach of self-esteem, which sits well with the priorities of the contemporary world.
Even during his recent address to the SCO summit, President Zardari has spoken his mind on the same theme and has laid stress on expanded inter-state co-operation and has stated that Pakistan desires to promote co-operation with regional countries and carry out joint projects to bring tangible benefits to the people. Even during his meeting with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, the two leaders have pledged to work together to maintain regional peace and stability and promote prosperity in their respective countries by expanding their economies and enhancing trade in the region besides increasing collaboration in meeting the challenges of security. What is more significant is that Zardari is always talking about strengths of different nations that obviously include the strength of Pakistani nation. In fact, his stress is more towards the positive side ie towards exploring the strengths and reinforcing and consolidating these strengths with the help of strengths of other counties of the region or of the outside world.