Ahmed Hassan Moughal, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry has called upon the Indian leadership to take measures for defusing rising tension between India and Pakistan in the wake of Pulwama incident as the South Asian Region needed durable peace to make economic development & progress and fight growing poverty. He said that with the hectic efforts of the current Pakistani leadership, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and other countries are taking interest to invest in Pakistan, but the rising tension between Pakistan and India would be harmful for business and economic activities and discourage new investment in the region. He said this while addressing a meeting of ICCI Executive Committee at Chamber House.
 

Ahmed Hassan Moughal said that South Asia has great potential for intra-regional trade and India should lead the efforts for regional integration instead of creating conditions that would promote disintegration, discourage investment and create unemployment in the region. 
 

Rafat Farid Senior Vice President and Iftikhar Anwar Sethi Vice President ICCI said that the countries around the world were creating regional economic blocks for promoting trade and economic development. However, South Asia was the least integrated region due to tense relations between some regional countries. They said that India should show maturity and play role for creating a strong economic block in South Asia for reducing poverty and uplifting living standards of people.