SAARC States urged to intensify economic co-op

DHAKA—Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Saturday urged the seven-member South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to intensify economic cooperation and forge closer cooperation with other regional organizations to eradicate poverty from the region and benefit the people.
Addressing the inaugural session of the 13th SAARC Summit, Prime Minister Aziz urged member states to “build on areas of convergence, minimize divergences and learn from each others best practices.” The outgoing chairman of the organization said South Asia which remains mired in poverty and preoccupied with differences and conflicts has not been able to leverage its full potential.
He said South Asia lags behind its larger Asian neighbourhood in terms of economic and social advancement because of its political disputes and tensions in the region. “We have remained embroiled with conflict management. We need to move towards conflict resolution,” Prime Minister Aziz said describing the situation as an impediment to SAARC’s success. The other impeding factor, he said, is that SAARC has remained inward looking and shy of reaching out to other regional organizations and the world.
“We must adopt an inclusive approach and open up to interaction especially with our larger Asian neighbourhood. We need to create linkages and interdependencies ensuring a win-win for all,” Prime Minister Aziz stressed. “We should establish closer interactions with important extra-regional states and other regional organizations especially the European Union, ASEAN, OECD, ECO, the Gulf Coordination Council and Shanghai Cooperation Organization.”
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, noting the improved ties between Pakistan and India, said both countries are engaged in a peace process to resolve all issues, including Jammu and Kashmir. Success of the process augurs well for the region and SAARC, he added. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who brought with him seven proposals to make the organization more goal-oriented, practical and pragmatic, said the focus should be on implementation of decisions and translating these into tangible terms.
He said SAARC activities should be prioritized, quantified and evaluated constantly so as to enable SAARC to deliver on the promise of its Charter. Expanding on his vision of priorities for the organization, which is entering the third decade of its existence, he suggested; expansion and intensification of economic and commercial cooperation, cooperation in energy, environmental protection and sustainable development with focus on conservation and management of water and natural resources, joint projects to alleviate poverty and promote health, education and agriculture and strengthening of the SAARC Secretariat.—APP