National News

ISLAMABAD,(APP): Finance Minister, Senator Muhammad
Ishaq Dar Friday expressed the hope that the dream of establishing
South Asian Economic Union (SAEU) would be materialized soon to
ensure regional development and pull out the people from poverty and
hunger.
“I am sure that we will come up with concrete recommendations
on steps to ultimate goal of the SAEU that would provide a viable
way of getting the peoples of our region out of poverty and would
give a new push to the multifaceted regional cooperation,” Dar said
while addressing the inaugural session of the 8th Meeting of SAARC
Finance Ministers here.
A range of mechanisms have supplemented the overall
cooperation in economic and financial sectors among the Member
States to achieve SAEU in a phased and planned manner through a Free
Trade Area, a Customs Union, a Common Market, and a Common Economic
and Monetary Union.
“There is a need for a focused attention on shared goals by
the national governments to realize the dream of the South Asian
Economic Union,” he added.
He was of the view that South Asia was a region with countless
opportunities and vast potential to meet the growth requirements of
its peoples, adding the assets of the region, among others, include
vast fertile lands, deep seas, large mountain ranges, high peaks and
a huge youth bulge.
The region needs joint strategies and convergence of
commonalities among the SAARC member states to exploit its resources
for the economic and social uplift of our peoples, he added.
The minister said that since its inception, SAARC has made
considerable progress in the areas related to economic and social
areas for the uplift of the peoples of the South Asian region.
Dar said that the concerted and time-bound efforts at SAARC
platform are the only way to get the masses of the South Asian
region out of the clutches of poverty and hunger.
The minister said that the unfinished agenda that includes,
the SAARC Limited Multilateral Agreement on Avoidance of Double
Taxation and Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, SAARC
Agreement on Promotion and Protection of Investment, Harmonization
of Customs Procedures and Documentation, establishment of SAARC
Development Bank, proposal to allow for greater flow of financial
capital and intra-regional long-term investment and recommendations
of SAARC-ADB Study on Regional Economic Integration(Phase-II), has
been delaying the process of intra-regional and inter-regional
integration of the South Asian region.
All these subjects need special attention of this forum to
move ahead in consonance with the global economic and financial
architecture.
Keeping in view the interests of the Least Developed, Land-
locked, and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in SAARC, the
progress on all the pending areas is imperative.
Speaking on the occasion, Secretary General of SAARC Arjun
Bahadur Thapa said that holding of the 8th SAARC Finance Ministers’
conference was the realization of the commitment to work for the
development of the region.
He was of the view that the regional integration has great
potential to offer opportunities for the collective uplift of the
peoples of the region.