Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday pointed to the latest challenges and contemporary realities, including the trend of reversing the globalisation process, as he stressed the need for regional connectivity and economic interconnectivity. While noting that regional peace is directly linked to a stable and peaceful Afghanistan, Shehbaz also called for ensuring that Afghanistan wasn’t used for exporting terrorism to other parts of the world and said the interim Afghan government must be pressed that no terrorist entity could use its soil against any other country. The prime minister said terrorism and extremism needed to be tackled through comprehensive actions, adding that divisive politics and incitement to hate must be condemned. He was addressing the 24th Meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State (SCO Summit) in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan where Belarus is to be inducted as its 10th member. The bloc – Shanghai Cooperation Council (SCO) – was founded in 2001, comprising China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Later, Pakistan and India joined the regional organisation in 2017, followed by Iran in 2023.

Initially, the grouping was focused on settling territorial disputes, but has grown to tackle regional security, economic development and other issues. The SCO has a great potential to influence international affairs given the fact that China is the world’s second largest economy, while India is currently the fastest growing among the major economies. Meanwhile, India and China are also the two most-populated countries of the world, besides hundreds of millions of people calling other members states as their home. It is this background that made Shehbaz stressed the need for rising above the geopolitics and work for poverty alleviation to ensure a peaceful and prosperous future for billions of people. As the prime minister highlighted the importance of economic cooperation, he cited the example of CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor) being a model for regional connectivity to make the transnational organisation more effective.

He noted that the venture was flagship project under Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – a brainchild of Chinese President Xi Jinping – and CPEC could be used to ensure the goal of connecting the SCO even closer. At the same time, the prime minister said the members states should work on promoting the use of their currencies so that they could remain the immune to the shocks triggered by the dollar in currency markets. The remarks are of great significance that the current economic crisis faced by Pakistan is mainly a result of rupee devaluation, unleashing a cycle that is extremely difficult to reverse. He used the occasion to also highlight the climate change threat, saying Pakistan was among the most vulnerable countries and called for coordinated efforts to save the planet from the disastrous effects of global warming.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan