President Zardari urges world community for unity to face challenges

TEHRAN: President Asif Ali Zardari said Friday that the world was facing enormous challenges and historic changes and there was a need for unity to cope with them.

Addressing 16th Non Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit Friday in Tehran, he stressed that power of NAM lies in its unity. He emphasized that all complicated issues should be resolved with unity‚ dialogue and cooperation.

The president said Pakistan supported a peaceful solution of regional disputes and believed in multi-dimensional relations.

President Zardari added that the war against terrorism was a complicated issue and Pakistan suffered loss of 40,000 people and US$80 billion in this war.

He said Pakistan and Afghanistan have suffered greatly from prolonged Afghan conflict.

"We are fully committed to durable peace in Afghanistan as we want stable‚ peaceful and prosperous neighborhood. We will cooperate with Afghan leadership for resolution of three decade old problem. International community besides focusing on withdrawal from Afghanistan should also take steps for repatriation of Afghan refugees".

The president expressed serious concern on situation in Syria and said Syrian government should respect aspirations of its people.

On Iran's nuclear issue, he said diplomatic solution should be sought. Regulations and provisions for disarmament should be impartial for all countries, he noted.

He said Pakistan wants negotiated settlement of all issues including Kashmir. NAM enjoys moral strength since its very inception and will play more significant role to cope with changes and challenges being faced by the world.

President said Pakistan as peace loving country wants peaceful‚ prosper and stable neighbors. "We are fully committed to promote stability in the region”.