Pakistan and Buddhists

THIMPHU/ISLAMABAD: Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir on Sunday affirmed Pakistan’s support for comprehensive regional cooperation under the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) framework.

Bashir is leading the Pakistani delegation to the 38th session of the SAARC Standing Committee, which started in the Bhutanese capital Thimpu, according to a press release.

Bashir said that among the priority areas, SAARC should focus on issues related to environment and climate change; energy and food security; alleviation of poverty; promote project based cooperation; develop substantive cooperation with observers, including other regional organisations and extra-regional states that have showed keen interest in SAARC. He said that Pakistan fully supported trans-regional economic, energy and development cooperation.

“Pakistan is happy to note that under the chairmanship of Bhutan and Secretary General Sheel Kant Sharma, we have seen steady progress in various SAARC programmes and activities,” Bashir said. Terrorism and illegal trafficking of drugs posed significant challenges to SAARC member states, he added. The foreign secretary said that Pakistan had hosted an important Ministerial Meeting of SAARC interior/home ministers, which had adopted the Islamabad statement calling for closer cooperation among SAARC states to overcome these challenges. South Asia, today, was witnessing vibrant democracies at work and the formulation of the SAARC Democracy Charter was an important achievement, he added. The SAARC Standing Committee’s meeting will be followed by a meeting of SAARC Council of Ministers.

Separately, Bashir and the Foreign Minister of Bhutan, Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk, reaffirmed their resolve to further strengthen and deepen bilateral relations through closer interaction at the government and people-to-people level. During the meeting, Bashir felicitated the Bhutanese government on the excellent arrangements made for hosting the SAARC Council of Ministers and preceding meetings. He expressed the hope that interaction among SAARC member states would provide an effective and viable mechanism for promotion of peace, development and progress in the region. The two highlighted the close relations between Pakistan and Bhutan based on common historical and cultural links, especially the common Gandhara heritage. Both the sides also decided to take steps to increase trade, commercial and economic ties between the nations. Bashir welcomed religious tourism from Bhutan to Swat in Pakistan, the birth place of Guru Padmasambhawa, the Second Buddha. app