Pakistan Looking At Economic Cooperation To Prosper

KUALA LUMPUR April 4 (Bernama) -- South Asia, especially Pakistan, is looking at a new framework namely to prosper on economic cooperation and changing the paradigm from security to economics. South Asian Strategic Stability Institute (SASSI) University President, Dr Maria Sultan (left), said that in this regard the Gwadar-Kashgar oil pipeline, which connects the northern border with China, can be a game changer in providing benefits to the people. "I think Pakistanis have made a very conscious decision and the conscious decisions is that we are not interested in fighting, unusual lengthy arguments and battles in terms of history, traditions," Dr Sultan said in her presentation at the ISIS International Affairs Forum titled "Strategic Developments In South Asia". "Pakistan will look for the future, we will go for economic development, economic progress and the CPEC (China-Pakistan economic corridor) is not just about Pakistan and China. It's about bringing the region together," she stressed. She said that the CPEC, with infrastructue projects worth more than US$46.2 billion, which included road, railway and the energy sector, provided the chance for the people to gain from such developments. "The region and the people deserve the chance and that chance is from economic development, progression and infrastructure development," says Dr Sultan, who is also the Advisor to Pakistan Ministry of Defence on strategic and military affairs. Also present at the event were Institute of Strategic & International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia Foreign Policy and Security Studies (FPSS) Director, Elina Noor (right) as well as Pakistan High Commissioner to Malaysia Syed Hassan Raza. (photoBERNAMA) -- BERNAMA