Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday called for regional peace in South Asia and resolving political differences through negotiations so that resources could be diverted towards building human capital.
Addressing the Sixth South Asia Economic Summit (SAES) in Colombo, Ahsan said “It will help us in implementing a regional disaster risk reduction strategy where all countries would work together to avoid disasters like floods and water scarcity.”
This, he said, would minimise intra-regional hostilities and strengthen the democracies.
“An economically integrated South Asia is the answer to the growing energy scarcity. We need to think of energy corridors within this region to meet each other’s energy needs,” he said, adding “Such integration is a must to cope with the negative impacts of financial crisis and recession which is hitting our traditional trade partners, Europe and the United States of America.”
The minister said that besides fostering peace in the region, “we also need to think of new ways to make South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) an effective forum”.
He said the fate of SAARC Development Goals (SDGs) was not much different than that of the Millenium DGs (MDGs).
“We often say that the lack of political ownership of the MDGs in member states led to the slow progress in achieving them. However, the SDGs were our home grown solutions, yet due to lack of cooperation, we failed to achieve them,” he said, adding that more than 70 percent of the South Asians still lived with less than $2 a day.
AHSAN MEETS SRI LANKAN PRESIDENT:
Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal called upon Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Colombo on Tuesday and briefed him on the initiatives taken by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government in different fields.
“The new government is determined to curb terrorism and improve the security situation in Pakistan and also in South Asia,” he said.
He said the two sides needed to work closely to take bilateral trade from $400 million to over $1 billion adding that the Joint Economic Commission (JEC) may be convened soon to propose ways to enhance trade between the two countries and to address the issues affecting economic and commercial relations.
President Rajapaksa said Pakistan-Sri Lanka bilateral relations had stood test of time.
This was the first ministerial level visit to Sri Lanka since the new government assumed office in Pakistan in June.
Conveying the greetings of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to the Sri Lankan leadership and people, Ahsan thanked the president for Sri Lanka’s help during the 2011 dengue outbreak in Punjab.
Ahsan said the fault-lines in our societies were being targeted and exploited by outsiders to create anarchy and instability. Platforms should be created on the national and regional levels to promote interfaith and communal harmony and to mitigate the negative influences, he said.
Iqbal highlighted the significance of sports in bringing the people of South Asia together. On his request, the Sri Lankan president agreed to revive cricket ties with Pakistan and said that a team would be sent to play in Pakistan soon.
President Rajapaksa, felicitating Pakistan on the democratic and peaceful transition of power, welcomed the minister to Sri Lanka and said that he was looking forward to the Pakistani PM’s visit to Sri Lanka in November for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2013.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT:
Earlier, Iqbal met Sri Lankan Minister for Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa.
The ministers agreed to work together to achieve the trade target of $1 billion and also decided to establish hotlines at the ministerial level to identify and eliminate any issue impeding trade relations. Minister Basil, accepting the invitation extended by Minister Ahsan Iqbal, said he looked forward to visiting Pakistan at a mutually convenient date.
During his stay in Colombo, the minister will visit the High Commission (HC) of Pakistan in Colombo to interact with the representatives of the Pakistani community in Sri Lanka.
He is also expected to visit the Norochchlai Power Plant in Puttalam district of Sri Lanka where he will be briefed on the working of a coal-powered energy generation plant.