In his one-and-a half-year tenure as High Commissioner for Pakistan, Mr. Alamgir Bashar Khan Babar, has been very active in promoting trade and investment between Pakistan and Bangladesh. During this period, a number of exchanges of ideas and information have been made between trade delegations from the two countries. Now, an FTA agreement between Pakistan and Bangladesh is on the cards. Through his personal initiative, the High Commissioner has taken up various projects in Bangladesh, particularly in the health and education sectors. And he remains strongly committed to promoting women entrepreneurship in the region.

ET meets with His Excellency to catch up on the recently concluded SAARC summit.

The Executive Times (ET): In your opinion, what is the significance of the last SAARC summit?

Alamgir Bashar Khan Babar (AB): In our view, the SAARC summit was positive for a number of reasons. First of all, one new member, Afghanistan, joined SAARC and China, Japan, US, EU and Republic of Korea were given Observer status. This shows the importance and relevance of SAARC as a regional organization and now it is inviting international attention.

Apart from that, two specific agreements were signed: one is the SAARC Food Bank and the other is the South Asian University. So these are really some positive outcomes of the last SAARC summit.

ET: Nevertheless, some critics remain sceptical about SAARC's capacity to deliver.

AB: There is a tendency to draw comparison between SAARC and some other regional organizations for cooperation, like EU. But actually there is a difference. EU is many years old and it gained momentum only after France and Germany put behind their differences. As our Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said in the last summit, there is a 'trust deficit' in this region. We cannot just walk away by looking the other way. So something has to happen at the political level to be really able to move forward.

ET: Should SAARC be used as a platform for resolving political disputes between SAARC member countries, including the Kashmir dispute?

AB: The point is why put anything behind, why can't we move along on all fronts? That way we would reduce the trust deficit. As long as the political issues are there, there will always be a trust deficit. And that will impact on all other activities, including economic ones. The good news is there are ongoing dialogues with India. There have been a number of CBMs [Confidence Building Measures] but the point is those CBMs have to lead to somewhere - the underlying issues or causes behind creating tension in the region. The Kashmir dispute is not territorial; it is about the right of the people to self-determination, recognized by the United Nations. You would find it very interesting that the Kashmir issue was taken to the United Nations by India and not by Pakistan.

ET: At the summit, Mr. Shaukat Aziz also said, "We need to ask ourselves: how relevant is SAARC to our people? How has it impacted their lives? In other words, where is the SAARC dividend for our People? These are some of the challenging questions that we, as leader of South Asia, must answer." Hasn't SAARC had its priorities straightened out?

AB: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has a very clear vision about SAARC and essentially that boils down to SAARC identifying its priorities. The SAARC Secretariat and each member country have to equip themselves in a way to support those priorities. If we have our priorities we will not diffuse our energy. He [Mr. Shaukat Aziz] does not want SAARC to be just a talking shop. He would like SAARC Summits to be more business like with a focus on implementation.

ET: Do you think there are tangible benefits of SAFTA?

AB: As far as SAFTA is concerned, we think it's a good vehicle to increase and develop intra-regional trade. But then it has to be implemented by everybody in letter and spirit. You can make a nice announcement of reducing tariffs but..