PM Shaukat Aziz emphasizes greater unity among Muslim Ummah
14 May, 2006
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| PM Shaukat Aziz emphasizes greater unity among Muslim Ummah. |
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BALI: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Saturday has underlined the need to ensure greater unity within the Muslim world by sharing the best practices and resources and collectively responding to global challenges.
"We must recognize that it will be only through sharing our best practices and resources, and collectively responding to global challenges that we can help each other to help ourselves. We must build interdependencies and complementarities to create a win-win for all. No matter how wealthy and powerful be any nation amongst us, individually it will always be at a disadvantage. Our strength lies in unity and collective action," he observed this while addressing the 5th D-8 Summit meeting here.
He also said that the organization, the Developing-8, represents the collective will of the most populous Muslim nations throughout the world aimed to accelerate efforts for promoting the larger interests of the Ummah.
"It is our belief that collectively we can be the pushing force to promote the interests of the Muslim world. We have the necessary human and material resources, the geographic size, the demographic capacity and of course the potential economic power to fulfill these objectives," he maintained.
He noted over the past nine years, the D-8 had made fast-paced progress adding unfortunately, this progress was far below our true collective potential.
The D-8 has tremendous human talent with its industrious and ingenious people, he added. "Some of us have great material resources such as oil and gas. The Muslim world, which stretches from Africa to the Pacific Ocean, has a central and geo-strategic location. Our peoples comprise a fifth of humanity but again unfortunately, we have not been able to leverage these advantages to our benefit. We therefore, need to ask ourselves as to what are the challenges before us that have prevented Muslims from achieving their true potential, he remarked.
Another challenge confronting the D-8, he went on to say was the negative image that existed about Islam and Muslims in the rest of the world.
Unfortunately, he said the actions of a few extremist elements have been wrongly used to tarnish the image of Ummah.
"It is our responsibility to change this image. We need to project Islam in its correct perspective as a religion of peace, harmony and tolerance. We need to emphasize that the overwhelming majority of Muslims around the world are peace loving, hard working and law abiding people," he reiterated.
It is, therefore, he acknowledged incumbent upon them to project the true values of Islam. This must be done through an inter-faith dialogue, which promotes better understanding and empathy for each other.
He told that Muslim societies must also learn to reform themselves and need to provide people with better governance, economic prosperity and social justice.
"This is essential to ensure progress and to unleash the potential of our people. We must revive the spirit of learning and enquiry which had laid the foundations for the glorious Islamic civilization. We must focus on modern disciplines, enhancing the acquisition of scientific and technological knowledge among our people. We must be in the lead to push the boundaries of knowledge in areas such as information technology, genetic engineering and nano technology," he noted.
The D-8, he stressed should set an example for promoting greater trade and investment opportunities within the Muslim world. Over the last five years, inter D-8 trade had increased from 14.5 billion to 33 billion dollars, which demonstrates that they had the capacity to augment trade even further.
He expressed optimism that that growth could be enhanced by extending our trade relations with the rest of the Muslim world as they were obliged to do as members of the OIC.
He also underlined the imperatives to reform and restructure our economics to benefit from international capital flows and Foreign Direct Investment. In particular, he pointed out that they should encourage and promote investment from energy rich Muslim countries to the capital deficient Muslim nations.
He said that there should be a greater emphasis, therefore, on investments and transfer of capital among Muslim countries.
Cooperation in the defence sphere, he pointed out was another area which could be explored to promote the collective interests of the Muslim world.
Several Muslim countries, including Pakistan, he noted had made significant strides in indigenous defence production capacity. "We must share our capabilities to enhance our individual and collective security interests.
"Cooperation in other areas such as tourism, especially eco-tourism, cultural and student exchanges, people to people contacts should also be increased between our countries and the Islamic world as a whole. This will require a more liberal visa regime amongst ourselves which is also necessary to facilitate trade and commerce between us," he added.
He informed, "the Developing-Eight provides the institutional framework for achieving our shared vision, which I have presented before you. I am glad that we have reached agreement to strengthen the Secretariat by upgrading the post of Executive Director to the Secretary General level. In my view it will be imperative to further strengthen this institution in order to achieve our common objectives".
"I also welcome the signing of the Preferential Trade and Customs Agreements. We must now make focused efforts to ensure the implementation of these agreements. We will be happy to host the first meeting for finalizing an agreement on the Rules of Origin which will be an important enabling step in our trade facilitation regime," he informed.
He said he was happy to announce that Pakistan had now ratified the visa facilitation agreement for businessmen. He hoped that other countries would also ratify that agreement at the earliest so that it could enter into force.
"We welcome the holding of the D-8 Business Forum and a Trade Exhibition to coincide with the Bali Summit. I am confident that the involvement of the private sector with D-8 activities will enrich our cooperation in diverse fields. We are encouraged by the enthusiastic participation of entrepreneurs, investors and business-executives in this forum," he underscored.
He said he would like to briefly share with them our efforts to reposition and revitalize Pakistan as a dynamic, progressive and modern Islamic state in a fast changing global environment.
Over the past six years, he recalled our government had implemented wide-ranging and broad-based structural reforms. In Pakistan his government had improved governance through transparency and accountability; empowered the people from the grassroots to the provincial and federal levels, in particular women and minorities.
All sectors of Pakistan’s economy were open for Foreign Direct Investment, he said adding that their exports were increasing and diversifying into new areas. Foreign exchange reserves were growing. The fiscal deficit has been reduced. Per capita income has increased and poverty levels are declining.
In the social sector, he claimed initiating wide ranging poverty alleviation programmes, including micro-financing, food support and rural and urban development programmes. A major focus, he informed of his government was on improving the quality of education and the health delivery services.
"Another area of high priority for my government is the IT sector. The total value of some of the ongoing IT projects in the public and private sector exceed US $100 million. We are also promoting a nation-wide programme of technical education and vocational training to evolve a highly skilled workforce as well as promote greater employment opportunities for our people," he added.
Pakistan, he went on to say was playing pivotal role to ensure international peace and security adding that his country was strategically located at the cross-roads between three vital regions of the world -South, Central and West Asia. "We are developing our road and rail infrastructure as well as air links to serve as a bridgehead connecting all these regions through corridors of cooperation, involving oil and gas pipelines, electricity grids, trade and tourism. Our port at Karachi and the under-construction deep water port at Gwadar will provide the shortest accesses to the sea for the landlocked countries of Central Asia as well as Western China," he informed.
In South Asia, he held Pakistan was pursuing a composite dialogue process with India to resolve all outstanding issues with special reference the core dispute of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people.
We are helping the Afghan government to ensure peace and security apart from assisting in their reconstruction. Our bilateral trade has increased to over a billion dollars. A secure and stable Afghanistan is in the strategic interest of Pakistan, he reiterated.
Pakistan, he informed had respects the right of the Iranian people to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes under appropriate international safeguards. "We are opposed to nuclear weapons proliferation by any country. We believe that the Iranian nuclear issue must be resolved peacefully through negotiations and dialogue. There should be no resort to the use of force," he declared.
Tensions in the Middle-East continue to pose a grave danger to international peace and security, he said adding that the Palestinian problem must be resolved through upholding the right of the Palestinians to an independent and secure homeland. Both the Palestinians and the Israelis must be able to live within secure borders.
Referring to the menace of terrorism, he said that Pakistan was playing a key role in the international campaign against terrorism. "As a victim ourselves, we condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. We also believe that a durable solution of this problem requires addressing the root causes of terrorism. Moreover, we must reject the malicious linkage that is being drawn between terrorism and Islam," he said in categorical terms.
On behalf of the government and people of Pakistan, he said, "I want to assure you of our full support for the efforts that you will be making as the Chairman of the D-8 in the coming two years. I am confident that under your sagacious and inspiring leadership, our organization will be able to make unprecedented progress. We need to build complementarities in order to create a win-win for all members. Our multidimensional cooperation must achieve tangible results in the areas of D-8 activities, especially to promote trade and investment among member states.
He concluded that he would like to express his deep appreciation for the warm welcome and generous hospitality extended to him and his delegation in the true traditions of your beautiful country. It is a pleasure to be in this enchanting island of Bali.
"Our two countries have a rich history of friendship and cooperation dating back to the support extended by your leaders for our freedom movement. Pakistan was also in the forefront of supporting the Indonesian freedom struggle. We in Pakistan greatly admire the tolerant and inclusive manner in which Indonesia’s multi-ethnic identity has been preserved. Your experience provides a valuable lesson for all of us, especially in today’s world," he noted.
Pointing to Indonesian President, he said that under his (Indonesian President) dynamic leadership which enjoys the overwhelming support of the Indonesian people, remarkable progress has been made as a result of his far reaching reforms.
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