Qureshi asks SAARC states to pool resources to fight Covid-19

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi called upon the South Asian states on Thursday to pool resources and adopt a region-centric approach to jointly address the common challenges of pandemic, food security, locust invasion and climate change.

“The development needs of the people of South Asia can only be fulfilled by pooling resources and taking a regional approach,” the foreign minister said in his virtual address to the informal meeting of SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Council of Ministers on the sidelines of 75th United Nations General Assembly, held in New York.

Qureshi said Pakistan was ready to contribute and play its part as SAARC renewed its focus to get better prepared for the challenges. Being a founding member of SAARC, he said Pakistan always attached great importance to the forum and remained committed to the principles and objectives of the SAARC Charter. He assured Pakistan’s continued proactive role towards the success of SAARC.

The minister said as the pandemic exposed weaknesses of global healthcare systems, particularly of developing countries, it was time to remodel and develop medical systems. He apprised the meeting that taking opportunity out of challenging situation, Pakistan manufactured its first own ventilator machine during the pandemic.

Pakistan, he said, remained successful in containing the virus by following a comprehensive strategy of “smart lockdowns”, tests, tracing and quarantine. “Our effort in finding a balance between lives and livelihoods was helpful in mitigating the impact of the pandemic,” he added.

Qureshi mentioned the provision of state support to the vulnerable segments through the Prime Minister’s $8 billion relief package, constituting a one-million volunteer youth Task Force and re-employment of people through the ambitious 10 Billion Tree Tsunami projects. He said although Pakistan had controlled the pandemic within its boundaries, still the government believed a regional approach was needed to stop the spread of Covid-19, and save lives and livelihoods of the people of South Asia.

He also mentioned Prime Minister Imran Khan’s appeal for a ‘Global Initiative for Debt Relief’. Similarly, he said, to strengthen the resilience of the country’s healthcare system, Pakistan Preparedness and Response Plan (PPRP) worth $ 595 million was launched.

He said Pakistan remained supportive of upgrading the status of active Observer countries to Dialogue Partners to ensure their contribution for development of the region, especially in context of post-pandemic economic recovery.

Qureshi said the SAARC region being a huge consumer market offered immense opportunities for regional trade in goods, services and investment, besides its biggest market of human resource and abundant natural resources.

The minister stressed peaceful resolution of outstanding disputes as a prerequisite for achieving development, economic growth, poverty alleviation and social uplift of the masses. He strongly emphasised the importance of faithfully following the UN Charter and implementing the UN Security Council resolutions. “We must strongly condemn and oppose any unilateral and illegal measures to change the status of disputed territories in violation of UN Security Council resolutions,” he added.

Such unilateral measures, he said, run counter to the shared objective of creating a regional environment of amity and cooperation, and thus must be opposed resolutely.

He said the SAARC bodies were established to promote regional cooperation among member states and warned any attempt to de-recognise those, would be prejudicial to its objectives. In spirit of regionalism and as per Pakistan’s commitment to the SAARC platform, he reiterated Pakistan’s willingness for hosting the 19th SAARC Summit in Islamabad at the earliest. “We hope that the artificial obstacles created in its way would be removed and SAARC would be enabled to function as an effective instrument of regional cooperation,” he said.