By NNN-APP
Boao (China) : Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf called on Saturday for strengthening concerted international and regional cooperation, protect the environment, strive for conservation and improvement of energy efficiency and free transfer of technology to cut environmental hazards.
In a keynote address here at the Boao Forum for Asia on “Green Asia: Moving towards win-win through changes”the President said “the challenge of sustaining economic development and ensuringenvironmental protection is overwhelming and beyond the capacity of most individual countries in Asia.”
The President said environmental issues will assume increasing gravity for the world and especially for Asia as it advances in economic and technology.
“This poses inescapable challenge for the present and the future of our continent demanding responses at individual and collective levels,” the President said.
More than 1,700 influential politicians, business leaders, intellectuals and journalists from all over the world are presently in China’s southern Hainan Province to attend the annual Boao Forum.
He proposed that the Boao forum institute set up a permanent chapter on environment and development to monitor problems and recommend and review the strategy.
He stressed the need for sharing expertise and experiences, removing barriers for investments, involve both public and private sectors in the change and set up regional cooperation networks to raise environmental and energy efficiency.
The President said demand for water, energy and raw materials had grown in the world.
“Collectively, we face and enormous challenge to ensure food security, energy security, prudent water management and environmental protection.” he added.
The President pointed that the phenomenal growth in Asia has led to an rise in global demand for energy and added that 70 percent of the new demand will come from developing countries specially those in in Asia.
The President said “we will have to rely on both traditional and non-traditional sources of energy to sustain our growth. We simply cannot depend on fossil fuels to be the mainstay of global economy” .
The President, however, pointed that despite success, large proportion of Asian population of around two billion still lives on less than US two dollar a day.
He said rural poverty and rapid industrialization have led to rural migration creating mega urban sprawls and placing great pressure on land resources.
He said this combination of high population density and growth, large scale urbanization and poverty has accelerated environmental degradation with significant increase in air and water pollution and occurrence of natural disasters.
He said Pakistan was dedicated to promoting cooperation for Green Asia, both in the region and within the SAARC framework.”There is a great stake for most SAARC countries in preventing the melting of the Karakoram and Himalayan glaciers and preserving the unique but fragile environment of the adjoining regions.”
President Musharraf said Pakistan was deeply committed to helping the global efforts to mitigate climate change and it has taken several steps such as establishing a policy and review forum on climate change, launching of a mega forestry project, mountain areas conservancy programme and Pakistan Wetlands Programme.
“We need to provide gas and electricity especially to our mountain areas to prevent deforestation in addition to promoting an effective afforestation programme.”
Terming the need for ensuring water security a challenge, he said there was a dire need for ensuring provision of clean drinking water, scientific management of irrigation and availability of water for afforestation.
He said Pakistan at the same time was determined to maintain and accelerate the growth of its economy, that has been expanding at an average of seven percent in the past five years. This, he added, continues to remain the top priority of the new government.
The President said the objective of Green Asia can be achieved only by introducing policy concepts and systematic changes to improve the ecological efficiency of current economic growth and by maintaining environmental sustainability for future generations, as envisaged in the Millennium Development Goals.
President Musharraf specially thanked the Chinese companies that were working for Pakistan’s economic development through their investment and business. “I assure them that Pakistan will continue to be a land of promise,” he added.
The President also greeted the people of China and its leadership for hosting the Olympics and said it will undoubtedly be an event of great celebration and significance.
The President termed the forum an important platform for economic dialogue for Asia in the world and complimented the organizers for selecting a theme that would lead to a holistic approach towards development of the region.
He said the great transformation of Asia led by the spectacular economic progress in China and other Asian economies augurs well for the world.
Boao Forum For Asia (BFA) is the most prestigious forum for leaders in government, business and academia in Asia and other continents to share visions on the most pressing issues in this region and the world at large.
The President of China HU Jintao, Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Michael RUDD, President of Chile Michelle Jeria BACHELET, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Karim K. MASSIMOV, President of Mongolia Nambar ENKHBAYAR,Prime Minister of Qatar Hamad Bin Jassim Bin JaborAL-THANI, President of Sri Lanka Mahinda RAIAPAKSA, Prime Minister of Sweden Fredrik REINFELDT, Presidentof Tanzania Jakaya Mrisho KIKWETE, King of Tonga Siaosi TUPOU V besides Former President of thePhilippines Fidel V. RAMOS,
The Forum strives to regional economic integration and bring Asian countries closer to their development goals.
Initiated in 1998 by Fidel V. Ramos, former President of the Philippines, Bob Hawke, former Prime Minister of Australia, and Morihiro Hosokawa, former Prime Minister of Japan, Boao Forum for Asia was formally inaugurated in February 2001.