President Asif Ali Zardari Tuesday emphasized the need for ECO member countries for working together in the three important areas of trade, transport and energy and urged for expeditious implementation of past agreements for trade liberalization besides cutting down tariff and non-tariff barriers.
The President said that, in order to enhance investment in the ECO Member States, we must resolve to operationalize the ECO Trade Agreement from January 1, 2013 and should also facilitate our private sectors.
The President said that we must commit to become a part of this fundamental Agreement as this trade agreement was one of the core objectives of our Organization.
The president said this during his speech at the 12th ECO summit here today at Baku, Azerbaijan.
Emphasizing on regional connectivity , the President said that the vision of regional connectivity and trade articulated at the Third ECO Summit in Islamabad was given by his wife , Daughter of the East Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, who he said was also his political leader. He said that most of all, she was a fighter as she fought for the women and children of our country, a country of 200 million people.
He said that political legacy of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto was a treasure that we all carry with great humility. The President referred to speech of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto made at the Third ECO Summit Islamabad in March 1995 , in which she said, “In the tapestry of history, our strong cultural and trading ties, our religious bonds, our mutual goals and objectives have woven us together into a rich communal cloth. Our poetry, our literature, our songs, our dances, our legends reflect the community of our nations, the brotherhood of our people.
This common heritage has given us the collective political will and the modus operandi for further regional cooperation and integration amongst our ten countries”.
The President said that it was obvious that ECO still has a long way to go to achieve its goals, adding that while other regional blocs have progressed but ECO has not progressed. He said that regional blocks like the European Union and ASEAN continue to deepen their regional linkages but the ECO continue to speak only of potential, rather than results.
Emphasizing regional linkages, the President called for strengthening regional connectivity, adding that energy must flow from energy rich to energy deficient countries in the region and that oil and gas pipelines and power grids must be built.
“The ECO Train, which I like to call the Gul Train, must be implemented”, he said and expressed hope that it will enhance trade not only between Turkey, Iran and Pakistani businesses but in all countries of the region.
He said that this vision of an interconnected identity was not new but it was rooted in our spiritual and literary tradition and calls for unity and inter-connectedness have echoed from Rumi to Iqbal.
Identifying some of the challenges, the president said there are three clear and present dangers that will prevent us from achieving our potential, which includes the challenge of terrorism, the challenge of poverty and illiteracy and the third challenge is the threat to the fundamental rights to our people, most of all, our daughters.
“I opened this speech with a mention of the Daughter of the East but I must speak to you today about the Daughter of Pakistan-My daughter, Malala Yusufzai”, The President said and added that Malala Yusufzai is fifteen years old child but she has been an advocate of education for girls when she was eleven year old. The President said that Malala is a symbol of all that is good about us and that she represents the resilience of our girls and women.
He said that last week, terrorists shot Malala in the head, adding that her attackers aren’t just trying to kill the Daughter of Pakistan but they are trying to kill Pakistan.
The President said that terrorists didn’t stop at Afghanistan and they would not stop at Pakistan. He termed the attack on Malala an attack on every child in our region and an attack on the future of our region. He said that we cannot sit idly as our children are attacked, adding that we must act and act urgently. He said that we must arrest and prosecute the perpetrators of this heinous crime expressing the confidence that we will nab and prosecute them.
The President however said that action against terrorists also involves eliminating the heroin trade and stressed for eliminating it as it destroyed people’s lives and was financing terrorism.
President Zardari urged for joint action against terrorists and said that my brothers and sisters in Afghanistan must understand that we are in this together and that we have suffered together.
He said that we must also fight this scourge together and that we must not blame each other as this is what the terrorists want.
“The terrorists want brother to fight brother. We reject the terrorists and we also reject the blame game. He said that we reject allowing terrorists to define us, adding that we will define ourselves by what we truly are.
The President said that we are defined by love, by togetherness, by Rumi and Iqbal , by the beauty and grace of our daughters,by Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and by our daughters like Malala Yusufzai.
He said that Malala has done more for Pakistan’s future than any military operation has done or will do in the future.
The President congratulated the President of Azerbaijan for assuming the leadership of the ECO. He also thanked and admired the President of Turkey for his guidance and leadership during his tenure as Chairman.
The President said that he was looking forward to host the next ECO summit in Islamabad and welcome the leaders.
ECO members must work for trade, transport and energy cooperation: Zardari
