Commonwealth parliamentary body moot opens with call for free trade

KARACHI,  The fourth Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Asia Regional Conference that opened here on Tuesday has called upon member countries in the region to take bold steps to remove stumbling blocks that prevent South Asia from becoming a ‘free trade region’.
The conference, which is the first-ever event of CPA’s Asia region being hosted by its Sindh branch — the provincial assembly — in Karachi, was opened by National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza.
Speaking about a major stumbling block, she said that despite abundant resources, raw material and more than a billion consumers, the main cause of growing poverty and escalating unemployment was “lack of meaningful cooperation” among the member countries.
“This has led to intolerance, violent attitudes and has provided fertile ground to terrorism. Our region has remained and continues to be the world’s flashpoint, which is a sorry reminder to all of us that this daunting challenge needs a collective response,” she emphasised.
Praising the courage and determination with which Sri Lanka had overcome the menace of terrorism, she said their unwavering strength taught us a lesson that no matter how strong the wave of terror might be, it must never be compromised with. “In Pakistan, we have chosen the same path. Our democracy has paid the heaviest price in this course in the martyrdom of our most illustrious leader Benazir Bhutto and 35,000 innocent people, including women and children. Yet we are determined that we will never allow these heinous acts to mar our path to people’s freedom, justice and democracy.”
Dr Mirza also commended Bangladesh on the initiatives the country had taken to empower women. She said the parliament of Pakistan, too, had an exemplary track record in this regard. Among 24 important bills concerning women and children passed during the past four years in Pakistan, the Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010 was a milestone that encouraged women to enter professional fields.
Economic power house
Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka Chamal Jayantha Rajapaksa said that the Asian region was considered the economic power house of the 21st century. “It is therefore necessary that we capitalise on and exploit the rich endowments of nature to promote dynamic economic growth in our countries,” he said.
The member countries should reduce trade and non-trade barriers progressively to facilitate better and more effective exchange of goods, services and technical know-how and to promote foreign direct investment, said Mr Rajapaksa.
He appealed to all commonwealth countries to unite in order to safeguard legitimate rights and interests of the sovereign nations and work towards a new fair and rational international political and economic order.
He was confident that the deliberations of the three-day conference would be instrumental in evolving a coordinated response to matters of serious concern.
Earlier, acting Sindh Assembly Speaker Syeda Shehla Raza and Secretary Hadi Bux Buriro received chief guest Dr Fehmida Mirza, acting governor of Sindh Khuhro, speakers and secretaries of member legislative assemblies, delegates and observers.
In his welcome address, Sindh Assembly Speaker and acting Governor Nisar Ahmad Khuhro said that conflicts left unsettled by colonialism had led to higher military spending resulting in higher budgetary deficits, larger borrowing and now huge debt servicing costs leaving little to invest in human resources.
He suggested to participants in the conference to recommend to the governments of member countries to set up a special fund by cutting military budgets at an agreed percentage every year and utilise it for the development of human resource and alleviating poverty in the region.
After the inaugural session, nine candles representing each member of the CPA Asia Region Sindh branch — Pakistan Senate and National Assembly, the provincial assemblies of Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the parliaments of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Maldives — were lit.
Except Bangladesh and the Maldives, observers from all six members were attending the conference.
The candle-lighting ceremony was followed by a lunch and a plenary session on trade barriers.
Later, the delegates paid a visit to the Quaid-i-Azam mausoleum and laid wreath to pay homage to Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
The acting governor hosted a dinner at the Mohatta Palace in their honour
.