VisionHawk
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Pakistan desires full membership of strategically important SCO grouping: PM
MOSCOW, Oct. 28 (APP): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Thursday said Pakistan was looking forward to becoming a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) that provides regional countries a platform to share ideas on economic, security and diplomatic cooperation. "Geo-politically and strategically, it is very important grouping of countries that include Russia, China and host of other states," he told editors of leading Russian newspapers and magazines here. Prime Minister Aziz said Pakistan had the intention and desire to become a full member of the grouping that also include Kryghzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan as its members.
Pakistan, Iran and India were given the observer status on the grouping in SCO summit meeting that held in Kazak city of Astana in July this year. Mongolia is the fourth country with observer status. Prime Minister Aziz was here to attend the SCO meeting and also held bilateral meetings with the Prime Ministers of Russia and China and Senior Vice President of Iran. The Prime Minister said all the members and observer countries together represent three billion people of the region as the Organization was located in a very important part of the world. "We think that the grouping of this magnitude can help influence events in the region (and) build economic, security cooperation and leverage full potential of this area," he added.
Referring to meeting of Russian President Valadimir Putin with the SCO leaders, Prime Minister Aziz said it was an enlightened interaction that showed that all members wanted to help each other and develop economically. He described economic and security cooperation as the two most important facets of the SCO. On economic cooperation, the Prime Minister underlined the role of private sector in promoting regional trade and investment and called on the member countries to share best practices in developing their economies.
The security cooperation within the SCO, he added, related to fighting the menace of terrorism together. He said all the member countries including Pakistan were committed to stamping out terrorism but underscored the need of addressing the causes of this extreme behaviour that were rooted in poverty, hopelessness and helplessness. Prime Minister Aziz said all the SCO members also expressed their profound grief over the loss of lives in the October 8 earthquake and recalled that almost all the members extended support to Pakistan in these trying times.
He described it as a major human catastrophe that has killed over 54,000 people, wounded another 75,000, made over two million people homeless and orphaned children in thousands. Pakistan right now was focusing on relief and rehabilitation efforts and trying to provide help to the affected people, many of them living in far-flung areas where access through land route was not available due to broken roads. Appreciating the international response to this massive human tragedy, he said, the donors conference in Geneva on October 26 had pledged another half a billion dollars in immediate assistance. He said another meeting of the donor community had been convened in Islamabad on November 18 to discuss the second phase of reconstruction and rehabilitation that was a huge task as it required not repair but rebuilding of entire infrastructure.
On Pakistan-Russia ties, the Prime Minister said the country was a major power in the world and Pakistan was looking forward to developing relations in all areas including economy, security and defence. Referring to the meeting with his Russian counterpart Mikhail Frodkov, he said both countries have identity of views on many issues and have shared perceptions. Both countries want peace and an enabling environment for economic growth, he said and added leaders of Pakistan and Russia desire to see their relations grow in every field. Responding to a question, he said an Indian delegation was scheduled to visit Pakistan on October 28 to discuss modalities of a proposal President General Pervez Musharraf had made on allowing Kashmiris on either side of the Line of Control (LoC) to meet and help each other in the wake of the quake.
Pakistan has proposed five points for two-way travel of the Kashmiri people across the LoC. Prime Minister Aziz said relief centres on all the proposed points are being set up to facilitate people from both sides of the LoC to help each other. To a question on SCO, the Prime Minister said energy security was becoming increasingly important for all countries and cooperation in this area was now becoming a global business. He alluded to the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project that was a win-win situation for everybody and would create linkages and inter-dependencies among the three countries. "We believe that with linkages and inter-dependencies, political relations also get better," he added.
Responding to a question, the Prime Minister said he saw the SCO as an organization to leverage strength of the region. On the prospects of Pakistan-Russian ties in defence, the Prime Minister said Pakistan had a limited need and buying weapons from different suppliers. He said Pakistan would approach Russia whenever it needed something, which it could fulfil. He said Russian MI-17 helicopters were an important part of the Pakistan army and they played a critical role in the aftermath of the earthquake by evacuating wounded and delivering relief goods in remote areas.
But he made it clear that as a peace-loving country, Pakistan's weapon acquisition programme was defence-oriented to maintain minimum credible deterrence and it was not looking for weapons beyond its needs. Responding to a question, Prime Minister Aziz said SCO was not a forum to discuss bilateral issues. He said Russia was a major power with close relations with many countries of South Asia and it could play a role in ensuring peace in the region.
MOSCOW, Oct. 28 (APP): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Thursday said Pakistan was looking forward to becoming a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) that provides regional countries a platform to share ideas on economic, security and diplomatic cooperation. "Geo-politically and strategically, it is very important grouping of countries that include Russia, China and host of other states," he told editors of leading Russian newspapers and magazines here. Prime Minister Aziz said Pakistan had the intention and desire to become a full member of the grouping that also include Kryghzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan as its members.
Pakistan, Iran and India were given the observer status on the grouping in SCO summit meeting that held in Kazak city of Astana in July this year. Mongolia is the fourth country with observer status. Prime Minister Aziz was here to attend the SCO meeting and also held bilateral meetings with the Prime Ministers of Russia and China and Senior Vice President of Iran. The Prime Minister said all the members and observer countries together represent three billion people of the region as the Organization was located in a very important part of the world. "We think that the grouping of this magnitude can help influence events in the region (and) build economic, security cooperation and leverage full potential of this area," he added.
Referring to meeting of Russian President Valadimir Putin with the SCO leaders, Prime Minister Aziz said it was an enlightened interaction that showed that all members wanted to help each other and develop economically. He described economic and security cooperation as the two most important facets of the SCO. On economic cooperation, the Prime Minister underlined the role of private sector in promoting regional trade and investment and called on the member countries to share best practices in developing their economies.
The security cooperation within the SCO, he added, related to fighting the menace of terrorism together. He said all the member countries including Pakistan were committed to stamping out terrorism but underscored the need of addressing the causes of this extreme behaviour that were rooted in poverty, hopelessness and helplessness. Prime Minister Aziz said all the SCO members also expressed their profound grief over the loss of lives in the October 8 earthquake and recalled that almost all the members extended support to Pakistan in these trying times.
He described it as a major human catastrophe that has killed over 54,000 people, wounded another 75,000, made over two million people homeless and orphaned children in thousands. Pakistan right now was focusing on relief and rehabilitation efforts and trying to provide help to the affected people, many of them living in far-flung areas where access through land route was not available due to broken roads. Appreciating the international response to this massive human tragedy, he said, the donors conference in Geneva on October 26 had pledged another half a billion dollars in immediate assistance. He said another meeting of the donor community had been convened in Islamabad on November 18 to discuss the second phase of reconstruction and rehabilitation that was a huge task as it required not repair but rebuilding of entire infrastructure.
On Pakistan-Russia ties, the Prime Minister said the country was a major power in the world and Pakistan was looking forward to developing relations in all areas including economy, security and defence. Referring to the meeting with his Russian counterpart Mikhail Frodkov, he said both countries have identity of views on many issues and have shared perceptions. Both countries want peace and an enabling environment for economic growth, he said and added leaders of Pakistan and Russia desire to see their relations grow in every field. Responding to a question, he said an Indian delegation was scheduled to visit Pakistan on October 28 to discuss modalities of a proposal President General Pervez Musharraf had made on allowing Kashmiris on either side of the Line of Control (LoC) to meet and help each other in the wake of the quake.
Pakistan has proposed five points for two-way travel of the Kashmiri people across the LoC. Prime Minister Aziz said relief centres on all the proposed points are being set up to facilitate people from both sides of the LoC to help each other. To a question on SCO, the Prime Minister said energy security was becoming increasingly important for all countries and cooperation in this area was now becoming a global business. He alluded to the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project that was a win-win situation for everybody and would create linkages and inter-dependencies among the three countries. "We believe that with linkages and inter-dependencies, political relations also get better," he added.
Responding to a question, the Prime Minister said he saw the SCO as an organization to leverage strength of the region. On the prospects of Pakistan-Russian ties in defence, the Prime Minister said Pakistan had a limited need and buying weapons from different suppliers. He said Pakistan would approach Russia whenever it needed something, which it could fulfil. He said Russian MI-17 helicopters were an important part of the Pakistan army and they played a critical role in the aftermath of the earthquake by evacuating wounded and delivering relief goods in remote areas.
But he made it clear that as a peace-loving country, Pakistan's weapon acquisition programme was defence-oriented to maintain minimum credible deterrence and it was not looking for weapons beyond its needs. Responding to a question, Prime Minister Aziz said SCO was not a forum to discuss bilateral issues. He said Russia was a major power with close relations with many countries of South Asia and it could play a role in ensuring peace in the region.
