International conference: ‘Give cooperation a chance’

Minister says regional cooperation can strengthen the economies.

LAHORE:

“Pakistan as a democracy is maturing. It recently witnessed a smooth transition from one elected government to another followed by constitutional transitions in other institutions of the country, including the recent appointments of the chief of the army staff and the chief justice of Pakistan,” Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reform Ahsan Iqbal said on Thursday.

He was speaking at an international conference titled Social Change and Security Imperatives: Challenges for Leadership and Democratic Governance in Pakistan at the Centre for Public Policy and Governance at the Forman Christian College.



Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Iqbal said the country faced internal as well as external threats.

He said terrorism and extremism were challenging not just for Pakistan but the entire world. He said the problem needed to be tackled in all societies.

The minister stressed the need for regional cooperation. He said the current political leadership believed in strengthening ties with regional countries, including India. He hoped that growing tensions between the two countries would ease after the upcoming elections in India.

“We want peace with all countries and are working on developing regional cooperation with all our neighbours, including India,” he said, adding that it was in the larger interest of the country.

He said both countries faced the problem of poverty and thousands of children were out of school.

“Cooperation and tolerance is the need of the hour,” he said.

He said the country was lagging behind in achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

“Some politicians are bent upon trying that the country engages in conflict with the world,” he said.

Commenting on the recent deal between the US and Iran, he said the latter was working on building relationships.

Citing economic ties between China and the US, he said Pakistan should also work on building economic ties in the region and not ignore the possibility of such ties with India.

“We need to make our economy stable enough to attract foreign investors,” he said.

Iqbal said work on a development plan for the next 20 years was in progress. He said the plan would address education, health, and energy problems.

He accused the previous governments of poor planning.

“Despite the challenges, the energy situation is not as bad as it was last year,” he added.

He said liquid natural gas terminal would be functional by next year. Better administrative policies in the energy sector, he said, would mitigate the power crisis.*

Published in The Express Tribune, December 13^th, 2013.