Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Tuesday, emphasising the need to accelerate the pace of development and bringing qualitative change in the people''s living standard, urged the Saarc countries to enhance mutual economic, trade and commercial co-operation.
He was addressing the first meeting of Finance Ministers of South Asian Association for Regional Corporation (Saarc) here at a hotel. Finance Ministers and financial experts from all the seven members of Saarc--India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and Pakistan--are attending the meeting with a view to formulate recommendations for establishing Saarc Development Fund for the region.
The Fund, with its own permanent secretariat, would comprise three distinct windows--social, infrastructure, and economic sectors. The three windows would offer confessional and non-confessional funds and grants to the Saarc countries, and $300 million would be utilised for poverty alleviation. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, inaugurating the meeting, urged the Saarc member nations to promote intra-regional trade.
He said, "We should pool our experience and best practices, and enrich our co-operation by resolving our disputes, focus our resources to development and create synergies to build mutual beneficial complementarities for progress in South Asia."
He said that through co-operation, the member states could transform Saarc into an engine of economic growth and improve the quality of life of the people. He said that in the present global world, no country or regional grouping could function in isolation for long.
Shaukat said that Saarc needed to join the mainstream of globalisation and build an interface with the international community. He said, "We should build dialogue partnership with other regional organisations and important extra-regional states."
He also welcomed the interests of China, European Union, Asean, OECD and the Gulf Co-ordination Council (GCC) to be associated closely with Saarc.
Referring to the agenda for regional co-operation in Saarc, the Prime Minister said that to achieve far-reaching transformation, it was essential that the member states should address the root causes of the problems that confront the region.
He said there was need to resolve all outstanding issues, including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir, and find a just and durable settlement of the issue in accordance with the wishes and aspirations of the people of Kashmir.
He said the success of the peace process would help in improving the atmosphere and auger well for the region in bringing new synergy to Saarc. The Prime Minister said the member states of Saarc must demonstrate commitment, flexibility, magnanimity and leadership to resolve the outstanding issues.
Shaukat Aziz urged the participants of the meeting to focus on enhancing economic and commercial co-operation between member states, co-ordinate in fiscal and monetary policies, cooperate in improving infrastructure and regional co-operation and find ways and means to implement earlier decisions in economic field.
The Prime Minister said rise of South Asia would change Asia and the rise of Asia would change the world. He said that South Asia has the potential to become one of the major global centres of economic power.
He said that to achieve the targets of better economy, South Asia needed peace, stability, co-operation and development. The Prime Minister said that South Asia is located at the crossroads between the East and the West, stretching from the Gulf to the Andaman Islands. He said that vital sea and air links pass through this region.
The Prime Minister said that the agenda for regional co-operation in South Asia seeks to make the Saarc as goal-oriented, practical and pragmatic to avail the opportunities unleashed by globalisation. He said the region has been blessed with undeniable potential, but still the member states are far from harnessing this potential fully to the benefit of the people.
The Prime Minister said, "The key impediment has been the absence of enabling political environment." He said the challenges that the member states of Saarc were facing in South Asia included assured supply of reasonably priced energy, adequate water resources and distribution management, food security, vulnerability to natural catastrophes, bridging the skill gap, higher productivity and job creations.
Referring to social challenges in the region, the Prime Minister said that these included providing more schools for children, access to clean drinking water, sanitation and better health services, mainstreaming gender as equal partner in the development and improving quality of life of the people.
Shaukat said Pakistan stands fully committed to play active role for the objectives of Saarc social charter and would reiterate its earlier offer to house the Permanent Secretariat of Social Development Fund (SDF) in Pakistan. He said that SDF would facilitate in advancing the journey on Millennium Development Goals for sustainable development.
The Prime Minister said the vision for Pakistan is of a strong, democratic, progressive Islamic state that provides peace, prosperity, security to its people and peaceful coexistence. He said that Pakistan, with 160 million people, enjoys a pivotal position at the crossroads of three vital regions of the world--South Asia, Central Asia and West Asia.
The Prime Minister said in the past seven years, Pakistan has undergone a qualitative transformation achieved through broad-based, multisectoral and deep structural reforms.
He said the government has also ensured democracy from the grass-roots level to the provincial and federal levels with devolution of power, transparency, and accountability.
In the economic sector, the Prime Minister said, the reforms have been based on three pillars of deregulation, liberalisation, and privatisation. He said that as a result of these policies, the economy is now on a high growth trajectory within the range of 6 to 8 percent and Pakistan''s industry is expanding, agriculture growing and poverty declining. He said there has been 10 percent reduction in poverty in Pakistan. Saarc Secretary General Chenkyab Dorji and Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance Dr Salman Shah also spoke on the occasion.