President Asif Ali Zardari said Pakistan was ready to work with all willing states in South Asia to promote trade, transit, energy linkages and people-to-people ties that benefit the entire region.
\nIn a message on 40th anniversary of SAARC Charter Day December 8, 2025, he said, \u201cAs we mark the 40th anniversary of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation(SAARC), I extend greetings to the peoples and governments of our region.\u201d
\n\u201cSAARC began in Dhaka in December 1985 with a simple understanding that South Asia\u2019s future would be more secure and more prosperous if its nations worked together. Islamabad has played its part in advancing that vision, hosting the 4th Summit under Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto during her first tenure and later the 12th Summit,\u201d he added.
\nThe President said, \u201cThe 19th Summit was to be held in Islamabad in 2016, in line with Pakistan\u2019s turn to host, but India\u2019s refusal to attend halted the process and for the past 11 years SAARC has remained stalled. With disputes across nearly all its borders, India\u2019s approach has become the central impediment to meaningful regional cooperation, leaving the region\u2019s peace and progress unnecessarily captive to its narrow choices.\u201d
\n\u201cThis impasse has led several member states to reflect on whether South Asia can afford continued paralysis. There is now growing interest in exploring a revived regional format that keeps the door open for all, yet does not allow one country to block collective progress,\u201d he said adding, \u201cImportant regional countries like Iran and China, can also be made part of the revival plan. Their participation would strengthen connectivity, economic integration and stability across the wider neighbourhood.\u201d
\n\u201cPakistan remains committed to a cooperative, inclusive and forward-looking regional order. Our geography places us at the meeting point of South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. We are ready to work with all willing states to promote trade, transit, energy linkages and people-to-people ties that benefit the entire region,\u201d he noted.
\nThe President said, \u201cOn this Charter Day, I encourage South Asian nations to approach the future with clarity and sincerity. The region\u2019s challenges are shared and so must be the solutions. With a spirit of respect and practical cooperation, we can shape a more peaceful and prosperous South Asia for our future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Asif Ali Zardari said Pakistan was ready to work with all willing states in South Asia to promote trade, transit, energy linkages and people-to-people ties that benefit the entire region. In a message on 40th anniversary of SAARC Charter Day December 8, 2025, he said, \u201cAs we mark the 40th anniversary of the South …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":90717,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90707"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90718,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90707\/revisions\/90718"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}