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ISLAMABAD
SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry Pakistan Chapter has expressed hope that Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government would play constructive role to strengthen SAARC by bringing India and Pakistan closer which would be harbinger of prosperity and peace in the region.
In his statement issued here Tuesday, Senior Vice President of SCCI Iftikhar Ali Malik said the dream of progress and prosperity of region and development coupled with peace in the region could not be achieved till relations of Pakistan and India were free of mutual animosity and distrust.
“The region accounts for only three percent of global output and two percent of world exports,” he argued. He believed that more Foreign Direct Investments could be secured for SAARC by boosting collaboration and turning down the unhealthy and non productive competition.
Even trade within the SAARC countries is less than six percent, which is a big question mark, he deplored. He said an investment-friendly environment to promote trade in the region if appropriate steps are taken timely to remove trade barriers and streamline custom procedures, intra-regional trade in South Asia would nearly quadruple from the current USD 28 billion to over USD 100 billion.
He also urged the PTI leadership to work for removing distrust between US and Pakistan relationship.
For this purpose, he suggested the United States and Pakistan should expand cooperation on the 2013 Joint Action Plan on Trade and Investment as the United States remains Pakistan’s largest bilateral export market and a significant source of foreign direct investment.
He said stability is a key to making the country an economic giant and this is only possible when all political parties sit together setting aside their political differences to chalk out a comprehensive economic plan for the betterment of the people of Pakistan.
He said Pakistan had all resources to become an economic giant but only need is to set directions with zeal, courage and sincerity.
He said Pakistan’s huge mineral resources could help get rid of the economic ills. Reiterating his earlier stance, he said Imran will utilize his best leadership flair and available resources for the promotion of trade and industry in South Asian region.
Bilateral trade witnessed a slight drop in 2016-17 to $2.28 billion, with exports from India at $1.83 billion and imports from Pakistan to India at $456.33 million.
Data reveals that the official trade between New Delhi and Islamabad accounted for only about 0.31 per cent of India’s total global commerce.
India had accorded the Most Favoured Nation status to Pakistan in 1996. A Pakistan Cabinet decision of November 2, 2011 to reciprocate remains un-implemented.
To move forward Pakistan and India must dialogue and resolve their conflicts incl Kashmir: The best way to alleviate poverty and uplift the people of the subcontinent is to resolve our differences through dialogue and start trading https://t.co/V2UkXp0WwS
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) August 21, 2018
Meanwhile Pakistan’s newly elected Prime Minister Imran Khan Tuesday expressed willingness to re-start the stalled India-Pakistan peace process and said the two countries must engage in dialogue to resolve their differences, including on the Kashmir issue, and start trade.
In his first direct comments on Indo-Pak ties since taking oath as Prime Minister last Saturday, Khan said the best way to alleviate poverty and uplift the people of the subcontinent was to resolve the differences through dialogue and start trading.
“To move forward Pakistan and India must dialogue and resolve their conflicts including Kashmir,” Khan tweeted separately in both English and Urdu.
This is his first response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for “meaningful and constructive engagement” through a letter to Khan.
However, while Modi had, in his letter to Khan on August 18, underlined the need to make the Indian subcontinent “free of terror and violence” — a key concern from New Delhi, Khan did not make any reference to the issue of terrorism in his response.
In a separately released message on the eve of first ever “International Day of Remembrance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism,” Khan said, “The international community must jointly take actions to support the victims of terrorism… We stand with the International Community to eliminate this menace and reiterate to take joint actions to extend all support to those who have been the victims of terrorism.”
Stressing that Pakistan has been “one of the worst victims of terrorism”, he said that despite these losses, “our resolve to fight terrorism remains unwavering”. AMN / APP