Islamabad: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today said Pakistan and India need to develop mutual trust and shed the burden of the past to ensure “safety, security and stability” in the region.
Pakistan, he said, has reached out to India and Afghanistan as part of efforts to turn over a new page with all its neighbours.
“Unfortunately, countries of the region are still not connected. The two largest countries have yet to develop the required level of trust. They have yet to shed the burden of the past and learn to look to the future,” Sharif said. “The people of Pakistan seek nothing more than peace, both within Pakistan and with all of Pakistan's neighbours. They want safety, security and stability,” he said in his address to the Asian Parliamentary Assembly here.
“We on the Pakistani side have tried to turn a new page with all our neighbours. We are prepared to look at the larger picture and have reached out to Afghanistan and also India.” Sharif said Pakistan's economy will benefit as it is next to two of the world's biggest markets, India and China. Pakistan is also the geographical knot tying three of the most important regions of the world - South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East, he added.
“We are working on realising the gains of this connectivity. We are developing an ambitious North-South Economic Corridor from China down to the Arabian Sea, linking the vast spaces and untapped wealth and resources of Central Asia and China's heartland to the international economic mainstream,” he said.
Sharif said if Asian countries succeed in using their resources properly and maintain their economic growth' they can overcome poverty by 2050.
After a peaceful democratic transition' Pakistan is now heading towards reviving its economy through a strong parliament. “We have been successful to build consensus for fighting terrorism through parliament,” he said. The government is also taking steps to overcome an energy crisis and is determined to resolve problems in minimum possible time, he said.
