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| 02 March 2004 | Tuesday | 10 Muharram 1425 |
Canada supports moderation call
ISLAMABAD, March 1: Canadian High Commissioner in Pakistan Margaret Huber has said the entire world should respect the call of exercising moderation by President Pervez Musharraf to bridge the yawning gap of misperception between Islam and the western world.
"This call (of enlightened moderation) should be respected and heard by the whole Islamic and non-Islamic countries," she said in an interview.
"Religion Islam does not profess violence," said the Canadian High Commissioner, adding, no religion in the world professes violence. She called for discouraging extremism and promoting "respect for diversity".
The ambassador also referred to a number of initiatives her country has taken to encourage a dialogue between Islam and the west to promote mutual understanding.
She discussed the long history of excellent bilateral relations between Pakistan and Canada but noted there was a tremendous room for improvement in ties in all fields.
Ambassador Huber, who resumed her charge in Pakistan 10 months ago, is not new to the country and had been visiting Pakistan as a liaison official with the Manila-based Asian Development Bank 30 years ago.
She said Pakistan and Canada had been working together in political, economic, commercial and cultural spheres for decades. She referred to Canada's annual development programme for Pakistan of around 20 million Canadian dollars, saying the amount "is modest but part of a very robust programme."
The ambassador expressed satisfaction over the growing trade which currently stands at 600 million dollars a year - a massive increase of 249 per cent when compared with the trade volume two years back. "But we think there still exists a great potential for much further expansion in two-way trade and investment ties," she added.
She identified agri-food, telecommunication, automobile, oil and gas as potential areas of collaboration.
Stressing the need to diversify trade, she said Pakistan "has a potential" to increase its exports to Canada beyond the traditional textile goods.
Ms Huber appreciated the growing stability in Pakistan's economy that was reflected in higher ratings by the International agency Moody's but observed there was a need to do more to encourage foreign investors.
She said the international response to Pakistan's efforts was more favourable and positive and hoped steps would continue to be taken to further improve the economy.
The Canadian envoy noted the cooperative relations in political fields and anticipated increase in interaction among the parliamentarians of the two countries in the future.
She said currently Pakistan and Canada were collaborating on issues of security, war on terrorism, international drug and human trafficking.
Ms Huber said, after China and India, Pakistan was the third largest source of immigration to Canada with over 200,000 people - 120,000 in Toronto alone. She praised the contribution by the Canadian-Pakistani community in the country's development.-APP
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