South-South cooperation need of the hour: Zardari

President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday said Pakistan having excellent political relations with Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Iran and other nations of the region, was working strenuously to further increase its economic relations, tourism and people-to-people contacts.
"Our revised transit trade agreement with Afghanistan is functional since last year and we would like to extend it to Central Asian countries," the President said while speaking at the inauguration session of a business forum here on the sidelines of the fifth Regional Economic Co-operation Conference on Afghanistan (RECCA-V). President Zardari termed forum an important and excellent opportunity for the businessmen of participating countries to come together and contemplate measures for further enhancing regional economic relations.
He described South-South co-operation as "need of the hour" and said such co-operation should be further strengthened for mutual benefit, adding, this can be bolstered by our partners in the developed world. "We should pool our resources to work collectively for the socio-economic uplift of our people. The campaign against poverty and deprivation is our common objective," the President stressed.
"We, who are part of this region, know best our challenges and opportunities. We firmly believe that regional issues need to be resolved through regional solutions," he remarked, adding, "Therefore, we look forward to intensified co-operation with our friends in the region."
The President said Pakistan has joint chambers of commerce and business forums with various countries of the region, adding, Pakistan-Tajikistan Business Forum meets regularly every year and has taken a number of measures for strengthening bilateral commercial relations. "I wish this forum great success and hope that such interactions will lead to further strengthening of our economic relations," he added.
The Tajik president called for the need to ease visa processing for traders to boost economic activity in the region. The Afghan President instead urged for visa-free regime for traders to enhance business ties among the regional countries. Later, President Zardari took round of the stalls set up by the businessmen of the three countries.