Pakistan to participate in 'Forum for Future' process
By Qudssia Akhlaque
ISLAMABAD, Dec 9: Pakistan is all set to participate in the first meeting of G-8 Broader Middle East and North Africa Forum for Future in Morocco this week.
The initiative is aimed at bringing about political, social and economic reforms in this part of the world.
The foreign minister-level meeting, to be co-chaired by Morocco's foreign minister and US Secretary of State Colin Powell, will be held in Rabat on Dec 10-11. It will look at ways and means to provide support to the reform process in each participating country.
The US-sponsored initiative will bring together foreign ministers of G-8, the Middle East (minus Israel), North Africa, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey. Representatives of the Arab League, the Arab Maghreb Union, the Gulf Cooperation Council and the European Union will also be attending the Forum's maiden meeting.
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtyar will lead the Pakistani delegation that will include adviser to prime minister on finance and revenue Dr Salman Shah.
"Some important issues on the meeting's agenda include democracy assistance, private enterprise development, micro-finance, civil society, investment task force, literacy initiative and entrepreneurship and business training," the foreign ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.
Diplomats expect that an agreement on next steps will be reached at the meeting. Pakistan, in principle, supports the reform agenda of the Forum. "As far as Pakistan is concerned we are already working in this direction and we do not have any concerns as such," a senior Pakistani diplomat said.
However, Pakistan has made two points on which the countries should move forward. One, reforms and restructuring should come from within, not imposed from outside.
Two, each country should prioritize the areas and move at its own pace. The country has also underlined the need to address underlying causes of festering political and territorial disputes in the Muslim world.
Pakistan would advocate the case for greater market access in the West with some sort of preferential treatment, sources told Dawn. Also, it would focus on the literacy initiative, vocational training for youth, quality of skilled manpower and the need for closer interaction between the private sectors.
The idea of the Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiative has been under discussion since last year when US President George Bush mentioned it for the first time in one of his speeches.
At the outset, the proposal evoked criticism from various quarters. Subsequently it was softened, broadened and repackaged with the acceptance of the basic principle that reforms would be home grown and each country would proceed at its own pace.
Initially, Palestine did not figure in it but later at the G-8 meeting in June it was incorporated in it. The Forum was launched in New York on the sidelines of this year's UN General Assembly where Morocco offered to host the first meeting.
