ISLAMABAD: If they worked together for promoting peace and harmony and towards improving their economies, Asian countries have great potential to lead the world, said a member of the Indian Lok Sabha Kalikesh Narayan Sing Deo on Tuesday.

Mr Deo is leading the Indian delegation at a two-day South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) youth parliamentarians conference.

Hosted by the National Assembly, 28 parliamentary delegates from Saarc member countries are participating in the conference, the title of which is ‘Young Parliamentarians for Peace and Harmony for Development’.

Participants pledged to work together towards addressing the issues being faced by the region.

The conference was inaugurated by National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, who said the conference was a “truly momentous occasion [in the] history of democracy in the region”.

“South Asia must not remain a prisoner of the past and should come up with new ideas for the future,” he said.

He urged delegates to work together and map out a plan for the forum to meet regularly to stream line initiatives via legislative, representative and oversight tools for youth emancipation.

Saarc Secretary General Arjun Bahadur Thapa said the population of South Asia is growing and that the potential offered by the youth could be used for poverty eradication in the region.

The EU Delegation to Pakistan’s acting head Stefano Gatto said the responsibility of strengthening democracy in the region fell on all South Asian countries.

PPP MNA Shazia Marri suggested the forum be used for mitigating conflict between member countries.

The convenor of the conference, MNA Malik Mohammad Uzair Khan, said the conference is a step towards achieving peace and harmony in the region and that the conference had highlighted new ways to face some challenges.

A number of young Pakistani parliamentarians including Maryam Aurangzeb and Shaza Malik participated in the event.

Talking to Dawn, Maryam Aurangzeb said the forum is important for South Asian countries as their young leaders can come up with solutions to common problems.

“Today, participants of the event made a WhatsApp group, which is a good initiative and they will work towards the betterment of the youth of this region,” she said.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2016