ECO told to boost farm trade share in world market
By Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, July 25: President General Pervez Musharraf here on Thursday called upon the ECO member states to develop programmes to increase region’s agriculture trade share in the world market.
Inaugurating the first Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture here on Thursday, he said the main challenge before the ECO was the development of a mechanism to facilitate business, trade, and investment-friendly environment within the ECO region.
He said the task before the region was meeting the challenge of WTO regime in the area of agriculture. “This warrants discussing the issue and common strategies to tackle the situation”.
He said the government of Pakistan was fully committed to the development of agriculture sector within the country as well as in the region. Agriculture is one of the priority areas identified for the revival of economy and to eradicate poverty in rural areas.
He said Pakistan was in the process of developing its agriculture economy in order to have a stable and sustainable growth in this sector.
Emphasis, he said, has been placed on a shift from substance to commercial farming through raising of crop and livestock productivity, the promotion of marketing and establishment of accredited labs to ensure and document quality of products for exports.
The president said Pakistan has been facing severe drought for three years now, and that is why, “we are now making substantial investment for the construction of water reservoirs and other water-related projects”.
Pakistan, he said, has mobilized local resources for establishing food grain storages and equal chain facilities for fruits, vegetables, and livestock products, and was looking for foreign investment. “Pakistan is interested in establishing joint ventures in horticulture, livestock production, and processing,” he said.
Pakistan, the president said, has always considered ECO as a platform for regional cooperation with a great potential to contribute towards the betterment of 350 million living in this part of the world. The ECO has made significant expansion in size since its inception in 1964. However, he said the progress made in achieving the set milestone needed careful evaluation and an innovative approach to make this organization a more vibrant and dynamic regional body.
“In my opinion, the Ist ECO Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture would play a role in the grater mobilization of regional resources in agriculture, a sector of regional economy with 23 per cent share of GDP absorbing 43 per cent of labour,” he said.
In his welcome address, the Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture, Khair Mohammad Junejo, said agriculture was essential for economy in almost all the ECO countries to support industry, employment generation, and export earnings.
He said the countries of the region have identical problems of small holdings and water scarcity, and there is need to formulate a joint strategy to overcome this problem.
The ECO Secretary General, Syed Mujtaba, said the ECO is giving priority to agriculture cooperation among member states. He called for the setting up of a data bank for agriculture production and trade. Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, and seven central Asian states are members of the ECO.
ISLAMABAD, July 25: President General Pervez Musharraf here on Thursday called upon the ECO member states to develop programmes to increase region’s agriculture trade share in the world market.
