Pakistan made secure for investors, says PM

‘Saarc should be made more efficient’

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday said that Pakistan has been made safe for foreign investors, adding that the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) should be made more dynamic.

Inaugurating the Eighth Saarc Finance Ministers Conference of the association here in Islamabad on Friday being attended by all the eight members of Saarc, the prime minister said that Pakistan has been a strong advocate for stepping up regional efforts to ensure energy security through sharing of indigenous sources of energy.

The prime minister said that Pakistan shares the perspectives that connectivity is critical to the progress and prosperity of the region and supports in principle the road, air, rail and water connectivity with the region. “We believe that Saarc must position itself to engage interested states and international organisations to develop win-win complementarities for social and economic progress in the region.”

He assured the participants that Pakistan was ready to contribute to fulfilling the hope and aspirations of the people of the region. “We believe that despite numerous challenges, Saarc has made commendable progress in promoting greater regional integration in South Asia to make the organisation more efficient, practical and responsive to the expectations of our people, all of us Saarc members states, the Saarc Secretariat and its regional centres and specialised bodies need to make coordinated,confident that the deliberations of the conference would give force to our overall efforts to make the South Asian Economic Union a reality. “Your valuable recommendations on a range of areas like customs cooperation, avoidance of double taxation, the current status of economic and financial cooperation in the region including the overall outlook of the Saarc Economies, an impact of global economic situations in the South Asia region will definitely provide more meaning to the Saarc economies,” Prime Minister Nawaz added. 

He said that Pakistan is committed to jointly work with Saarc member states in changing economic landscape of the region and getting its people out of clutches of poverty, illiteracy and other social ills. He said that three decades back South Asian leadership had made commitment to accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development of our region. He said Pakistan is ready to contribute to fulfill aspirations of the people of the region. In this era of globalisation, the world focuses on finding regional solution to common problems. He said that for economic and social progress of the masses, increasing connectivity, ease of communication, freer trade and finding solution to hunger, poverty and food insecurity has helped the world enhance regional and sub-regional cooperation. 

The prime minister expressed the confidence that the deliberations of finance ministers would complement the agenda of 19th Saarc summit, which Pakistan looks forward to host in Islamabad on 9th and 10th of November this year. 

In his welcome address, host Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar said that the South Asian region is blessed with immense resources and has the potential to meet the growth requirements of its peoples. He said that a joint strategy is the way forward to exploit this potential for the socio-economic uplift of our peoples. He expressed the confidence that the vision of South Asian Economic Union will promote economic cooperation, investment and connectivity amongst the regional countries. He said that the leaders of Saarc countries have repeatedly been emphasising upon the greater economic integration and cooperation. He said that though significant headways have been made in this regard, however, there is need to remove non-tariff barriers and simplification of procedures in order to enhance cooperation in different sectors including trade, investment and energy cooperation. 

Dar said that the proposals to be finalised in the meeting will be presented before the Saarc summit to be held in November in Islamabad. 

Addressing the conference, Saarc Secretary General Arjun Bahadur Thapa said that the South Asian region has the potential to become the global economic force. He said that since the last Saarc Summit, significant progress has been made to bolster economic cooperation amongst the member states. He said the leaders of Saarc countries have set an ambitious target of establishing South Asian Economic Union, which requires deeper interaction amongst the member countries.