SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry, an apex body of chambers in the region, Saturday strongly demanded the facility of visa on arrival in SAARC countries to boost socio economic prosperity in the South Asian countries which possess 12 per cent of global natural resources.
In his key note address, at a seminar on “ Trade and
Investment: New Dawn in South Asian Integration” in the federal capital, SAARC CCI Vice President, Pak chapter and veteran trade leader, Iftikhar Ali Malik said that for promotion of economic co-operation in South Asia, free movement of businesspersons in the region was crucial and India-Pakistan agreement on flexible visa policy would allow multiple-entry on reciprocal basis.
He said that India and Pakistan, the two most powerful members of the SAARC region, had come to enter a suitable trade regime. He said we had all seen that times have changed and the concept of economic prosperity among member countries had taken the lead. This was much needed so that we could reap full benefits of the regional power to eliminate the poverty and bring self reliance and prosperity in the region like other global blocs of the world, he added.
He stressed the urgent need to thoroughly exploit indigenous natural resources and untapped mineral resources not only to improve but to strengthen the socio economic conditions in the region on the pattern of trade blocs like NAFTA, EU, ASEAN and COMESA.
He acknowledged the celebration of 28th SAARC Charter
Day which demands firm resolve to work towards making it more meaningful for our people, sincere efforts to end political confrontation and act for socio economic prosperity work in unison in order to safeguard rich heritage and also to rise to face future challanges.
He said that while socio-economic demography of the world was changing, 21st century was touted as the century of Asia and in prevailing global scenario, SAARC countries needed to work together and share vision and stronger economic linkage within the region for the welfare of the people.
Iftikhar Ali Malik said that it is the need of the hour that all eight nations in the South Asia must work to meet common challenges especially that threaten security, peaceful co-existence and progress in the region.
He said that SAARC was home to more than 1/5th of the world population making it the largest entity in the globe. He said that 45% of SAARC’s population consisted of youth and it possessed 12% of the global natural resources and untapped resources in more or less, the same quantity. He said that every SAARC country had its unique characteristics as India was the 4th largest economy, Pakistan, the hub of textiles, Bangladesh, the centre of garment industry, while Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka were emerging destinations of tourists from all over the world.
Iftikhar Ali Malik said that it was unfortunate that the world development indicators presented a bleak picture of the region on global economic fronts despite having enormous potential, the contribution of SAARC countries in global GDP is less than 2 % and its share in export is only 1.5 % which does not reflect our potential.
