Zardari seeks trade liberalisation, tariff cuts among ECO members

President Asif Ali Zardari Tuesday urged ECO members to expedite implementation of past agreements for trade liberalisation besides cutting down tariff and non-tariff barriers.
“We must resolve to operationalise the ECO Trade Agreement from January 1, 2013 and should also facilitate the private sector for promotion of trade, transport and energy sectors”, he said while speaking at the 12th ECO summit here.
The President said that the member states must commit to become a part of this fundamental agreement as this trade agreement was one of the core objectives of this organisation.
Emphasising on regional connectivity, the President said that the vision of regional connectivity and trade articulated at the 3rd 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 for most of us, she was a fighter as she fought for the women and children of Pakistan, 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 her speech of Mohtrama Benazir Bhutto at the 3rd 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,” he said. The President highlighted collective potential and the various challenges and threats to the potential of the ECO and said that the potential was clearly written in the Treaty of Izmir and in our past pledges.
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.
The President said, “we must ask ourselves that why the ECO has not progressed and that we must challenge ourselves to do better constantly, adding that this was the only way forward for all of us.” “We must challenge ourselves both within our countries, and as a collective group of brotherly nations”, the President said and urged for putting into action a vision of real cooperation among the member countries.
Emphasising regional linkages, the President stressed 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 hoped that it will enhance trade not only among Turkey, Iran and Pakistani businesses but in all countries of the region.