Key Takeaways
- Experts at an ISSI seminar urged regional nations to revive SAARC.
- The seminar highlighted shared challenges like poverty, climate change, and water scarcity.
- Participants suggested practical cooperation through issue-based approaches and mini-lateral arrangements.
Experts at an ISSI seminar in Islamabad called for issue-based regional cooperation in South Asia, urging nations to revive SAARC and address shared challenges.
The seminar, titled 'Reimagining Regionalism in South Asia,' was hosted by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) and featured speakers from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.
Ambassador Jalil Abbas Jilani, former Foreign Minister of Pakistan, joined the event as the chief guest, alongside other speakers including Pakistan’s former Ambassador to China, Ambassador Masood Khalid, and Professor Maneesha Wanasinghe-Pasqual.
The speakers emphasized that South Asia, with its large population and economic potential, cannot advance human development, economic prosperity, and lasting peace without practical cooperation among regional countries.
SAARC, which has been dormant for over a decade, was identified as the most suitable platform for revival, with a more issue-based approach and practical cooperative mechanisms.
Ambassador Jilani highlighted the need for political commitment, mutual confidence, and treating all countries as sovereign equals for the success of regional cooperation.
The seminar also discussed the potential for cooperation through mini-lateral arrangements and invited China to participate in such initiatives, given its interest in promoting stability and cooperation in South Asia.
The speakers suggested focusing on issues such as poverty, climate change, water scarcity, disruptive technologies, migration, trade facilitation, economic development, maritime cooperation, and public health.
The event concluded with a clear message that the world’s most populous and strategically significant region cannot remain disintegrated in the face of traditional and non-traditional challenges.
