Pakistan reaffirms its commitment to make Asia a peaceful region

ISLAMABAD, May 3 (APP):Pakistan’s Special Secretary for Asia Pacific, Imtiaz Ahmad, on Friday reaffirmed its commitment to making Asia a connected, prosperous and peaceful region, saying that Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) was a leading platform to realize the dream of pan-Asian cooperation and Pakistan fully subscribes to its aims and objectives.

Addressing to the Ministerial Meeting of 16th Asia Cooperation Dialogue, Imtiaz said Pakistan had already announced the establishment of a Joint Working Group (JWG) on Connectivity with Co-Prime Movers likewise Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Bangladesh and India.

He announced that the inaugural meeting of the Executive Committee of the Joint Working Group on Connectivity would be convened soon, said foreign office press release said.

“Pakistan is the Prime Mover for the Pillar of Connectivity and the Co-Prime Mover for the Pillar of Cultural and Tourism in the ACD. Tourism is a high priority area for the Government of Pakistan and the country is opening up for tourists from across the world,” he said.

In this regard, Pakistan’s recently-announced Visa Policy with its reduction in visa fee, introduction of e-visa and visa-on-arrival facilities, will help enhanced connectivity and people-to-people exchanges.

Imtiaz highlighted that Pakistan had hosted the 4th Ministerial Meeting in Islamabad in 2005, which adopted the Islamabad Declaration on Finance, Energy Security, Flow of Capital and Investment.

Pakistan emphasized its vital role in overland connectivity to the Middle East, China, Central Asian and South Asia. Gwadar was also the confluence of BRI’s land and maritime routes.

He said ACD was a continent-wide forum, which provides a platform to Asian countries to regularly exchange views on areas of mutual interest and foster an Asian community. Pakistan was one of the founding members of ACD and assigns high priority to this forum.