ISLAMABAD, 6 November 2004 — Pakistan has asked the United Nations to grant observer status to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in the UN General Assembly, Foreign Office sources said.
Through a draft resolution tabled in the Legal Affairs Committee of the UN General Assembly, Pakistan as the current chairman of SAARC, sought the observer status for the organization.
Introducing the draft resolution, Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram told the General Assembly that SAARC’s objectives were to promote the welfare of the peoples of South Asia and to improve their quality of life by accelerating economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region through mutual cooperation
Meanwhile Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz fully supported the idea floated by Bangladesh to create a SAARC Fund to address the issue of poverty alleviation. He said that the idea of SAARC Fund would be discussed and firmed up in the upcoming 13th SAARC Summit, to be held in Dhaka.
The prime minister said that the 12th SAARC Summit was a historic event with a positive impact over the entire region besides improving the bilateral relations between India and Pakistan. He hoped that both Pakistan and India would resolve all the issues including that of Kashmir through dialogue, as was the spirit of the Islamabad Declaration, formalized after the 12th SAARC Summit.
The prime minister said that he looked forward to expanding Pakistan’s ties with Bangladesh in every field to increase people-to-people contacts.
To a question why the trade is so low among the SAARC countries, Shaukat Aziz said, “There is little movement of goods among the member states. For example, Pakistan and Bangladesh have no shipping service. This could increase our trade. We can add to trade between our countries, which is $250 million at the moment. Then individual states need to make complementary effort, introduce tariff adjustments and other conducive policies for trade.”
“Pakistan could benefit from Bangladesh in the fields of tea and jute while we could provide it textile inputs. Again economic growth of individual states is important as it creates demand,” the prime minister underlined.
To a question over the effectiveness of SAARC, he said, “It is not a banking operation for handouts. It is meant to facilitate the member states to take collective decision that is good for the entire region. It is a forum where we share each others values, ideas and ideas.”
