Staff Reporter
Islamabad
President Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI), Vice Admiral (R) Khan Hasham Bin Saddique said Tuesday that regional connectivity was prerequisite for promoting economic integration in South Asian and Central Asian countries for common benefits.
In an exclusive interview with APP here, the IPRI President, who has also served as an Ambassador of Pakistan in Saudi Arabia, said that Pakistan can play central role in realizing this potential “Pakistan has important geo- strategic location to prove itself as a gateway for two energy rich regions including Middle East and Central Asia,” he remarked.
He said that Pakistan could also offer concept of shared prosperity to all regional countries for participating in the game-changer project the ‘China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), adding that this project would not only promote regional connectivity but would also go beyond it.
He highlighted the importance of speeding up work on Turkmenistan Afghanistan Pakistan and India (TAPI) gas pipeline project to overcome the energy challenges of the region and promote the concept of shared prosperity. He said that connecting landlocked Central Asian Countries with the region was also a big challenge, however said that creating such links would help exploit the untapped energy resources of this region.
