ISLAMABAD, Nov 30: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has urged the Saarc member countries to provide a level-playing field to each other for increasing the flow of trade in the region.

He was talking to a delegation of South Asia Centre for Policy Study here on Tuesday.

An official announcement said that the premier reiterated that trade flow could increase among Saarc countries by providing a level-playing field. Mr Aziz said that reduction in tariffs could accelerate the process. While the non-tariff barriers also needed to be adjusted.

The prime minister emphasized for an effective Saarc to help alleviate poverty and unemployment to improve the living standards of the people. He said that it was imperative that both Pakistan and India continue their composite dialogue on a sustained basis and make progress on all issues including Jammu and Kashmir in tandem for making these dialogues result oriented.

Mr Aziz said that all the Saarc member countries should contribute to the proposed poverty alleviation fund and it must be accessible by all members. He said the civil society has its own momentum and therefore, there was a need to engage the civil society more and more but the leadership had to draw line for making a judgement call. The Saarc should develop core competency in four or five areas and its secretariat should be strengthened, he added.