06 September 2004	Monday	20 Rajab 1425

ISLAMABAD, Sept 5: Pakistan Muslim League-N chairman Raja Zafarul Haq has called for increasing co-operation among major political parties of Asian countries to enable these to play their role in national development and regional co-operation.

According to a press release issued by the party's camp office here on Sunday, the PML-N chairman was speaking at the third International Conference of Asian Political Parties in Beijing, China.

The topic of the conference is 'Regional Security and Multilateral Co-operation, Economic Growth and Social Progress and the role of Political Parties in National Development'.

Mr Haq said the role of political parties in nation building was of paramount importance and greater interaction and co-operation among major political parties of Asia could play a vital role in strengthening these parties and enabling them to work for national development and regional co-operation.

The PML-N leader said China and Pakistan enjoyed a friendly relationship throughout Pakistan's history. He said he believed that the 21st century belonged to Asia. He said Asia's total population of 3.8 billion was 65 per cent of the world's population and represented the largest concentration of human resources.

In the past 20 years, he said Asia's economic growth rate of GDP had been faster than any other region in the world. In fact, all the fastest growing economies of the world during this period have been in Asia that include China, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and more recently India and Pakistan.

He said the most spectacular growth performance came from China which had maintained an average annual growth rate of 10 per cent for the past 20 years, leading to a fourfold increase in per capita incomes.

Its performance is unprecedented in human history and since China's population is one-third of the Asian population, it has had a very positive impact on the economy of Asia as a whole, he added.