President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday said the world was facing enormous challenges and historic changes and there was a need for unity to cope with the challenges.
Addressing the 16th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Tehran, he stressed that power of NAM lay in its unity. He emphasized that all complicated issues should be resolved with unity‚ dialogue and cooperation. The president said Pakistan supported a peaceful solution of regional disputes and believed in multi-dimensional relations. Zardari added that the war against terrorism was a complicated issue and Pakistan suffered a loss of 40,000 people and $80 billion in the war. Zardari proposed the establishment of an Ad Hoc Working Group to forge a common vision of new challenges and the role of NAM in the 21st Century. He said the NAM Chair, in consultation with other members of Troika, may chart out a strategy for this purpose.
The president said Pakistan would be happy to actively contribute towards strengthening the movement. He said NAM represented the aspirations of more than half of humanity living in developing countries. Zardari pointed out that the world was witnessing a historic transformation which called for reiterating our belief in the principles of the United Nations Charter and values of multilateralism.
He said Pakistan believed in the promise of multilateralism and states could achieve more together than they could individually. Solutions to complex problems must be based on dialogue and consensus. Emphasizing the need for harmony, tolerance and respect for diversity, Zardari said Pakistan had tried it in its domestic politics and found it holding great promise in inter-state relations. He said Pakistan was a peace loving country and sought a peaceful, stable and prosperous neighborhood. He said Pakistan was engaged in a comprehensive dialogue with India. “We look forward to finding peaceful solution to all outstanding issues, including Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
He said destinies of Pakistan and Afghanistan were interconnected and both had suffered from prolonged conflict in Afghanistan for the past three decades. “Pakistan is fully committed to promoting durable peace and stability in Afghanistan. It will continue to support an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned reconciliation process in Afghanistan,” he said.
Zardari said repatriation of Afghan refugees was an unfinished task of Afghanistan’s peace and stability. “Pakistan hopes the international community, while planning withdrawal from Afghanistan, should also take into account repatriation of Afghan refugees to their homeland.”
He said Pakistan was deeply concerned over the continued bloodshed in Syria, adding that Pakistan strongly condemned unilateral declaration of independence in parts of Mali. He said Pakistan fully supported the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people. The establishment of an independent and viable Palestinian state was critical to peace.
World needs to unite to face challenges: Zardari
