Need for greater regional cooperation
 

[B]TRILATERAL Summit between Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan beginning today (Friday) would be judged from the implementation of decisions in due course of time, but what is more significant is that it takes place at a time when the region is facing threats from all sides. On the one hand the Americans are in negotiations with Taliban for a face saving pullout of NATO forces from Afghanistan and on the other Iran is being threatened of punitive strikes and sanctions over its nuclear programme.

Presidents Asif Ali Zardari, Ahmadinejad and Hamid Karzai at their two previous trilateral summits committed to promote regional cooperation and strengthening of peace and stability which is need of the hour. The three sides have been holding the trilateral summit since 2009, but so far they have made little headway in substantively bolstering cooperation because of their mutual suspicions. There is need for greater regional cooperation and a joint strategy to overcome the challenges and resolve the issues, which are affecting the entire region. If there is complete trust among the brotherly Muslim countries, one can say with certainty that other powers would think twice before taking punitive actions against them particularly imposing sanctions as is being threatened to Iran. US presence in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s cooperation with the West in war on terror have prevented the forum from taking off in real terms. The joint declarations issued at the end of the meetings virtually carried nothing more than reiteration of their commitment to the much cherished goals of expanding political, security, economic and cultural ties, maintaining peace and stability in the region and attaining prosperity for their people. Instead of rhetoric, it is time that ECO and SAARC must be activated because regional groups are more effective to meet the economic, security and other challenges. We believe that it would be more appropriate if Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan too is invited in the next summit as Turkey is also member of ECO, along with Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan and its participation would boost cooperation and help achieve peace and stability in the region. [/B]

[B][url=http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=140663]Need for greater regional cooperation[/url][/B]