ISSI seminar calls for issue-based cooperation in South Asia

ISLAMABAD, Oct 15 (APP): Experts at an international seminar on Thursday called for stronger regional cooperation in South Asia, urging leaders to demonstrate statesmanship and focus on shared challenges, common interests and collective development to promote lasting peace and prosperity.

The seminar, titled “Reimagining Regionalism in South Asia,” was organised by the India Study Centre (ISC) at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI), said a press release.

The speakers said that the world’s most populous and strategically significant region cannot remain disintegrated in the face of looming traditional and nontraditional challenges and ever-increasing vulnerabilities.

The regional countries need to revive cooperation by adapting existing institutional mechanisms with the present-day challenges and realities.

They described the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) as the most viable platform for regional cooperation, despite its practical limitations.

The more pragmatic approach for the South Asian countries was to separate political contestations from practical issues.

They called for a people-centric approach focused on poverty alleviation, climate change, water scarcity, disruptive technologies, migration, trade facilitation, economic development, maritime cooperation and public health.

The seminar also highlighted the need to explore smaller regional cooperation arrangements alongside efforts to revive SAARC. The speakers suggested that China could be invited to participate in such initiatives, given its interest in promoting stability and cooperation in South Asia.

Former foreign minister Ambassador Jalil Abbas Jilani attended the seminar as the chief guest. Other speakers included Pakistan’s former ambassador to China Ambassador Masood Khalid, Bangladesh’s Deputy High Commissioner to Pakistan Fazle Lohani Babu, SASSRI Sri Lanka Executive Director Professor Maneesha Wanasinghe-Pasqual, ISSI Director General Ambassador Moin ul Haque and ISSI Chairman of the Board of Governors Ambassador Khalid Mahmood

The speakers were of the view that, given its landmass, huge populace, economic potential, and ever-increasing challenges, South Asia could not advance the objectives of human development, economic prosperity, and lasting peace without practical cooperation among regional countries. SAARC, which remains dormant for over a decade, can be the most suitable platform to revive cooperation, albeit with a more issue-based approach and practical cooperative mechanisms.

Ambassador Jilani stressed that successful regional cooperation required political commitment, mutual trust and respect for all countries as sovereign equals. He expressed hope that the leadership of all member countries would demonstrate statesmanship in the larger interest of more than two billion people in the region.

The seminar concluded with an interactive question-and-answer session.