Pakistan is ideally placed as hub of regional connectivity & economic integration: Syed Ahsan Raza Shah

ISLAMABAD, June 15 (SABAH): Pakistan is at the crossroads of connectivity development and is a gateway to resource pooling in central and west Asia to bring together and connect the states to achieve greater economic integration and connectivity that is necessary for sustainable development.

This was stated by Syed Ahsan Raza Shah, the Additional Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while speaking to a group of foreign diplomats on “Connectivity and Emerging Role of Pakistan” here at Islamabad Stock Exchange auditorium. The briefing was organized by the Asian Institute of Eco-civilization Research and Development (AIERD).

Highlighting the importance of connectivity in the region, Mr Shah said that return of peace and stability Afghanistan’s is an important factor in this connection. He said economic growth and connectivity are linked to each other and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a vehicle towards greater regional economic growth and prosperity.

To a question, Syed Ahsan Raza Shah said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is, at Headquarters as well as at Pakistan Embassies abroad, actively engaged with the business community towards enhancing Pakistan’s exports and attracting investments. Missions abroad are under instructions to facilitate greater B2B engagements, he added.

In his welcome address, Zahid Latif Khan, Chairman, Asian Institute of Eco-civilization Research and Development, and former President RCCI said Pakistan needs to exploit full potential of its strategic location and market size. “Pakistan will have to build reliable and efficient soft infrastructure and mechanism for connectivity on the principle of win-win cooperation,” he said, adding that “after the completion of first phase of CPEC, Pakistan must start benefiting from it.”  He said: “There is no second opinion that CPEC helped build state-of-the-art hard infrastructure, but without soft infrastructure we cannot move forward.

Shakeel Ahamd Ramay, Chief Executive Officer, AIERD, emphasized on the efficient working which he said is the need of hour. He said Pakistan is surrounded by a number of competitors therefore; it needs to speed up its efforts for regional connectivity. He said CPEC that is a flagship project of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), will certainly play the role of game changer soon.

During the interactive session, the participants said that Pakistan’s private sector is quite active and has great potential in terms of growth expansion with a great enthusiasm to extend trade relations with the world. They said Pakistani businessmen have great ethical values and professionalism, which is the hallmark for trade connectivity and overall economic stability of the region.

They said Pakistan government should make its youth aware of the products with potential and greater demand for exchange.