JAKARTA, April 21: President Gen Pervez Musharraf and his Indonesian counterpart Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono agreed on Thursday to augment economic and trade relations through a joint business council. The two leaders, who met at the President’s House here, also exchanged views on issues of common concern, including the situation in Afghanistan, developments in South Asia and the fight against terrorism.
Responding to Pakistan’s desire for full dialogue and summit-level partnership with Asean and participation in other forums, including the East Asia Summit, President Yudhoyono assured Gen Musharraf of Jakarta’s full support in this regard.
The two leaders saw vast prospects for joint ventures, more investment and increased two-way trade, which currently stands in favour of Indonesia.
Commerce ministers of the two countries would chalk out details for putting in place a joint business council to facilitate robust interaction between private sectors.
President Musharraf briefed his Indonesian counterpart about his talks with Indian leaders in New Delhi for the establishment of durable peace in South Asia through resolution of outstanding issues, including the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.
The two leaders also voiced unanimity on restructuring and reforming the Organization of Islamic Conference to make it a potent body, capable of addressing the challenges confronting the Muslim world.
The two presidents shared the view that terrorism posed a threat to the region and discussed closer cooperation in combating the menace. They also discussed defence cooperation between the two nations.
Welcoming Gen Musharraf, President Yudhoyono said Jakarta was looking forward to developing closer ties with Pakistan in all areas of interest.
Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan, Minister for Culture and Sports Mohammad Ali Durrani, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Women Development Nilofar Bakhtiar, Pakistan’s ambassador and the foreign secretary were present during the meeting.
MEETING WITH BUSINESSMEN: Addressing a gathering of corporate leaders and investors here, President Musharraf asked Indonesian business leaders to undertake joint ventures with their counterparts in Pakistan and take the benefit of stable and conducive climate for trade there.
“Pakistan should not be seen as a stand-alone case for its immense promise but it should also be viewed as an emerging centre of trade for landlocked Central Asia, South Asia, fast-developing Western China and the Gulf — any trade among them has to take place through Pakistan,” he said.
The president said key reforms and a transparent business regime guaranteed security of investors’ capital and profitable returns.
“The labour is inexpensive, the workforce is hardworking, tax and tariff regimes are good, no restrictions on holding 100 per cent equity, no bar on taking capital or dividends, the cost of business is low, there is liquidity in banks, interest rates are low, Pakistan has shaped up for high-paced economic activity.”
The president assured investors that their business concerns would be safe and secure as law and order had improved and foreign companies had never been affected by internal developments.
In this context, he referred to the government’s staying true to its commitment to exorbitant deals with independent power producers in the 1990s and said despite facing crunch economic times the country fulfilled its commitment.
ASIAN-AFRICAN SUMMIT: President Musharraf will address the Asian-African Summit that begins here on Friday with the aim of developing a new strategic partnership to the common benefit of people of two continents.
The two-day summit, being held with the theme of ‘Reinvigorating the Bandung spirit: working towards a new Asian-African strategic partnership,’ is expected to mark the dawn of a new era of cooperation among countries of the two regions towards a peaceful and prosperous future.
Meanwhile, President Yudhoyono opened the Asian-African business summit on Thursday, attended by at least 500 businesspeople from 24 countries from Asian and African continents.—APP
