Zardari urges international community, US to prepare Marshal Plan for Pakistan

President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday urged the international community, especially the US, to step forward and prepare a Marshall Plan for Pakistan’s strategic economic stability and advancement of its development agenda.

Talking to US Secretary of State John Kerry during their one-on-one meeting as well as during delegation-level meetings with US officials at the Presidency, Zardari said the people of Pakistan had suffered greatly as a result of the ongoing fight against militancy and terrorism and there was need for the international community to give the people pf Pakistan the peace dividend by way of massive economic assistance, energy development and greater market access.

Later briefing reporters about the president’s meetings, Spokesman to the President Senator Farhatullah Babar said Kerry congratulated the president on a peaceful and democratic transfer of civilian power in the country and lauded his overseeing various phases of the smooth transition.

He termed the smooth power transfer a significant milestone in Pakistan’s democratic progress and said people of Pakistan had affirmed commitment to democratic rule, which he said was critical to achieving peace and prosperity.

Thanking Kerry, Zardari said the credit for the first-ever smooth power transfer went to the democratic forces, all the political parties, parliament and all the people of Pakistan for enthusiastic participation in the electoral process despite threats from militants and extremists.

The president said smooth transition reflected the democratic ethos of the people.

The president’s spokesman said Pak-US relations, reconciliation in Afghanistan, drone attacks and global and regional issues were discussed during the meeting.

On drone attacks, Zardari said drone strikes in FATA by the US violated Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and was also negatively impacting the mutual desire of both countries to forge a cordial and cooperative relationship and to ensure peace and stability in the region.

President Zardari called for an end to the drone attacks and said these strikes were counter-productive, entailed loss of innocent civilian lives and also fueled anti American feelings.

He called for sustainable and positive relationship between Pakistan and the US on the basis of mutual respect, mutual trust and mutual interest.

“The goal of establishing a long-term and durable bilateral equation would remain elusive until the issue of trust deficit is addressed in an effective manner.”

He urged the need for enhanced trade and investment ties between the two countries and increased market access of Pakistani goods to the US.

“Enhanced market access for Pakistan’s exports in the US will translate into economic growth and decreased poverty which is needed to decrease incentive for unemployed youth to be recruited by terrorists,” he said.

Zardari stressed for closer cooperation in areas such as economy, trade, energy, socio-economic development, agriculture and water issues, science and technology and defence cooperation.

He urged the need for more concerted steps on both sides to double the trade volume from existing $5.1 billion and said the strategic dialogue was a successful platform for substantive discussions on cooperation and partnership and called for restoring the previous ministerial level of the dialogue.

Discussing regional situation, Zardari said Pakistan believed regional peace and security was vital for its own peace, security and development.

He reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to continuing to play a helpful role in restoring peace, stability and development in Afghanistan and in the region.

The president said Pakistan supported an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process and welcomed all efforts being made for finding a peaceful solution to the long drawn conflict in Afghanistan.

He expressed hope that the efforts made would also take into account legitimate concerns of all the stakeholders.

Discussing militancy and terrorism, the president said Pakistan had suffered the most in terms of human and financial losses in the ongoing fight against militancy and reiterated that Islamabad would continue to fight the menace until its logical conclusion.

He, however, called for a Marshall Plan for Pakistan to overcome the problems in the wake of fight against militancy.

Those who were present during the meetings included US Ambassador in Islamabad Richard Olson, State Office Executive Secretary John Bass, and Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan James Dobbins.

Those from the Pakistani side included Sartaj Aziz, Senator Farhatullah Babar, Jalil Abbas Jilani and Ms Nasreen Haq.