Pakistan believes in effective, result-oriented regional cooperation: PM Imran

Islamabad: Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Sunday that Pakistan believes the effective and result-oriented regional cooperation can only be achieved by adhering to the cardinal principles of sovereign equality and mutual respect as enshrined in the SAARC Charter.

In his message on the 35th SAARC Charter Day, the prime minister said December 8 marks the day when leaders with vision and foresight adopted the SAARC Charter and pledged to work together for the progress and prosperity of South Asia.

"This day reminds us of the enormous responsibility placed on our shoulders by our peoples, and their expectations from their leaders to address the common challenges of poverty, illiteracy, disease and under-development," he said.

Khan said Pakistan was a firm believer in the strength and potential of regional cooperation for individual, national and regional development.

"Pakistan believes that effective and result-oriented regional cooperation can be achieved only by adhering to the cardinal principles of sovereign equality and mutual respect as enshrined in the SAARC Charter," Khan was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the Pakistan Foreign Office.

The prime minister reiterated Pakistan's commitment to the SAARC process and expressed hope that the hiatus created in its continuous progression would be removed, enabling the SAARC nations to forge ahead on the path of regional cooperation for development and to achieve their full potential, it said.

On December 8, 1985 at the first SAARC Summit in Dhaka, the leaders of the seven South Asian states - the Maldives, India, Bhutan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka - signed a charter to establish the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

Afghanistan became the eight SAARC member in 2007. SAARC Charter Day is commemorated every year to mark the signing of this Charter. The 2016 SAARC Summit was to be held in Islamabad, but after a deadly terrorist attack on an Indian Army base in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir in September that year, India expressed its inability to participate in the summit due to "prevailing circumstances".

The summit was called off after Bhutan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan also joined India in boycotting the summit. SAARC summits are usually held biennially and hosted by a member state in the alphabetical order. The last SAARC Summit was held in Kathmandu in 2014.