he National University of Sciences and Technology (Nust) and the Royal Danish Defence College (RDDC) hosted a two-day seminar on `Peace, Growth and Empowerment: Promoting Regional Connectivity`.

NUST Rector retired Lt Gen Naweed Zaman said the regional connectivity in South Asia is far from satisfactory, as was evident by the extremely low intra-regional trade in South Asia, which amounted to just 5pc of the total trade in the region.

In contrast, intra-Asean trade is almost 25pc of the total Asean trade.

He cited a number of reasons for poor connectivity in South Asia including trust deficit between India and Pakistan, poverty, terrorism, the unresolved Kashmir issue, the long turmoil in Afghanistan and the isolation of Iran.

Rapid urbanisation in the region, he said, offers a big opportunity for fast-tracking regional connectivity through well-considered measures like the reduction of tariff and non-tariff barriers, public-private partnerships and business-to business linkages.

Speaking at the occasion, former Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, retired General Ehsan UI Haq said: `China, Pakistan, India, Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asian republics and other South Asian states have a total population of approximately 3.5 billion which is more than 45pc of the total global population. This massive population bloc does not deserve to be held hostage to the pursuit of negative politics of containment and encirclement.

The Ambassador of Denmark, Ole Thonke hailed the seminar a positive step forward in global knowledge based collaboration.

The two day seminar consists of grand sessions, two plenary sessions, and five exhaustive roundtables. The sessions and roundtables highlighted different aspects of regional connectivity, cooperation, and integration.

By Kashif Abbasi