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ISLAMABAD: With a perceptible pledge to work hands-in-gloves for the refurbishment of the South Asian scenario — which faced diverse upheavals over the decades — explicitly until the last year when the two nuke-neighbours, India and Pakistan were at the brink of yet another war — in an eyeball-to-eyeball — pose in the wake of abrupt amassing of its troops by New Delhi, eventually averted probably by luck — the 12th Summit of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation — SAARC ended in Islamabad Tuesday — beaming to the world — their curious zest for amity ‘with a commitment to infuse a new spirit of unity, goodwill and peace in the region.’

Summit

The Summit — mostly being phrased as ‘a landmark’ — was attended by leaders of all the seven-member countries, witnessed ‘watershed’ developments in the singing of free trade agreement and adoption of additional protocol on the Convention of suppressing terrorism and Social Charter to address the "common enemy" — poverty.

Islamabad Declaration

Leaders of Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Maldives also adopted a 43-point Islamabad declaration, which overtly lays focus on socio-economic topics with a desire for peace and harmony in the region — yet atypically — makes no mention of the specific issues, which have been plaguing Indo-Pakistan ties — with the Kashmir dispute — atop that was being termed as the root cause of the perilous irritants between the two arch-rivals.

Envisioning with optimism, the birth of environs for cordial ties among the member states — most exclusively between India and Pakistan — to open vistas for an affluent South Asia, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali — in his concluding remarks at the final session of the SAARC Summit — described the Islamabad declaration as the ‘future-oriented declaration of historical significance.’

‘Great Success’

Simultaneously, Jamali, unambiguously — termed the 12th Summit as a ‘great success’, which, he said, ‘symbolizes the aspirations of people of South Asia for peace and progress.’ ‘SAARC is a fostering of mutual understanding, good neighborly relations and meaningful cooperation,’ said the Prime Minister.

SAARC, the Prime Minister said, also reflected the deepening commitment of the leaders to move ahead collectively to address the challenges of economic and social development.

Jamali expressed commitment of the SAARC leaders to harness the region's assets to promote mutually beneficial cooperation. He said he could state with confidence that the summit "we succeeded in reinvigorating the regional cooperation". He described peace and security as the essential pre-requisites to address the multifarious challenges of socio- economic development.

Jamali described the signing of SAFTA and adoption of Additional Protocol on Terrorism and Social Charter as watershed developments. "We should go a long way in promoting fruitful economic cooperation," he added.

PM Jamali believed poverty as a common enemy of the region and stated that the Social Charter characterized the collective resolution on the need of economic and social cohesion that lies at the very core of peaceful and prosperous society.

He also termed the adoption of Additional Protocol for SAARC Convention on combating terrorism a "landmark" in eliminating terrorism from the region.

Khaleda Zia Responds

Speaking on behalf of all delegates, Prime minister of Bangladesh begum Khaleda Zia, presenting a Vote of Thanks hailed the Islamabad Summit which, she said, has added a new thrust to efforts for reducing poverty in the region.

The Summit would mark a key watershed in enhancing South Asian regional cooperation, she added.

Prime Minister Khaleda Zia described as an "historic event" the signing of the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement. "It will go a long way in highlighting the social dimension, of SAARC mandate in this region", she said.

Begum Khaleda Zia said that SAARC summit has added a new thrust to regional poverty reduction efforts by endorsing the report and recommendations of the independent South Asian commission on poverty alleviation. She said the summit would mark a key watershed in enhancing South Asian regional cooperation.

The Bangladesh PM expressed appreciation that spirit of accommodation and cooperation prevailed. "The Islamabad declaration reaffirmed our commitment towards regional cooperation," she remarked.

Towards the end of Bangladesh Premier’s speech, the host Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, declared the 12th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation — SAARC summit closed.

Next SAARC Summit — in Dhaka

The next SAARC summit will be held in Dhaka in January 2005. Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia said in her concluding address at the SAARC meeting. She said, she was looking forward for welcoming all participants in Dhaka.

Khaleda thanked SAARC leaders for choosing Bangladesh as the venue for the next summit.