The Prime Minister said South Asia is endowed with abundant human and natural resources and that it is home to one-fifth of humanity and reservoirs of untapped wealth and under-utilized resources, which provide opportunities for development and prosperity in the region.
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The prime minister further said that they will have to construct roads for Regional Corporation with the countries.
He urged the SAARC finance ministers that we need to unite for economic stability.
This no-show is certainly a setback to the grouping, which has thus far failed to serve as an engine of regional growth and unlock the great potential it has of boosting business among member states on the model of Asean, a success story. He said Pakistan is ready to contribute to fulfill aspirations of the people of the region. Pakistan believes in development of the country through SAARC. First the tirade and fiery speeches of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi against Pakistan and now its decision not to send Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to Islamabad for the SAARC meeting explicitly depict that the relations stand at the lowest ebb. However, his visit ended in more hostilities between the two neighbours as he used the Saarc platform to accuse Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism.
The finance ministers focused on areas including reduction or removal of non-tariff barriers, energy cooperation, trade facilitation measures, investment cooperation, reduction of products on the sensitive list and improvement in connectivity among SAARC member states.
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It will also review implementation of decisions taken during the seventh finance ministers’ meeting in Kathmandu in Nepal. Besides, the agenda of the Finance Ministers’ meeting was not political in any manner, as it had to discuss matters pertaining to promoting trade and investment amongst the regional countries and lay the groundwork for the subsequent endorsement by the heads of states and government at the main Summit. He said the proposals to be finalized in today’s meeting will be presented before the SAARC summit to be held in November in Islamabad.
