July 10, 2015

News

Nawaz suggests four-pronged approach for regional peace
APP

UFA: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Thursday suggested a four-pronged approach encompassing people-to-people contacts, confidence-building in peace and security, trade and regional connectivity among the BRICS countries for uplift of their people.
Addressing the BRICS Outreach meeting on sidelines of SCO Summit, the prime minister said Pakistan valued its interaction with BRICS, which consisted of important countries of our region and beyond.
The prime minister, along with his delegation, arrived here on the second leg of his visit from Oslo to lead Pakistani delegation at the 15th SCO Summit and 7th BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Summit.

In his address, Nawaz called for collectively focusing on improvement and well-being of our people. He proposed to promote mutual understanding, cooperation and goodwill through cultural, academic interaction and people-to-people contacts.
Calling for promotion of confidence, he said the confidence-building in peace and security was an essential ingredient for endeavors towards shared prosperity. He suggested to promoting bilateral and regional trade and commerce; coordinate to introduce cohesive laws, reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers, and ease the movement of people and merchandise across the borders. He also proposed for promoting connectivity by investing in regional infrastructure including investment in better transport networks, including roads, motorways, railways, and air and sea links.
Nawaz congratulated President Putin on hosting the 7th BRICS Summit and the 15th SCO Summit. “We are grateful to our host, President Vladimir Putin and the Government of the Russian Federation, for bringing SCO and BRICS member community together under one roof. This would go a long way in promoting inclusive and synergetic approach to economic development,” he remarked.
“This interaction coincides with the consensus to make Pakistan a full member of the SCO,” the prime minister said. “Pakistan’s economic growth has remained steady. We have unveiled Vision-2025 to provide a solid platform for the revival of sustainable and inclusive growth. The potential growth sectors such as infrastructure, power and natural resources, are open to large scale investments,” he said.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that he had a vision of “Peace for Development and Development for Peace” for the region, in which regional connectivity and economic integration were the key components.
Towards this end, he said, Pakistan had been actively engaged at several regional fora including SAARC and ECO. Pakistan will be hosting Summit meetings of both these important regional organisations in future, he added. He said Pakistan had been collaborating with a number of SCO and BRICS members to promote progress and prosperity of our people.
The prime minister said with Chinese collaboration, Pakistan was building the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
He said Pakistan’s fight against terror including ongoing military operation was not only for protection of Pakistan rather it was very critical for peace of the region as well as the international community. He said in this endeavour, Pakistan had rendered huge sacrifices in terms of human and economic losses “but this has not weakened our resolve to fight against extremism and uproot terrorism.”
“We remain absolutely determined to take this campaign to its logical conclusion in order to achieve our objective of peaceful and prosperous region.”
He also called for a committment to work together in order to promote peace and development in the region and beyond in a true spirit of collaboration and cooperation.

Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk

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