Global Agenda Council on Pakistan 2011

The World Economic Forum aims to serve as an independent, multistakholder platform for regional cooperation and dialogue in South Asia. Currently, no such platform exists in South Asia and the region is limited to political dialogue within the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) framework which is widely regarded as purely symbolic.

India's economic growth has not benefited its neighbours and the lack of intra-regional trade has given way to high transaction costs and isolated resource systems for energy, food and water. While there have been nominal efforts made to ease Indo-Pakistan tensions, the ongoing fragility of Pakistan's internal security continues to be an obstacle. It is in this context that the Pakistan Council will convene leading experts on Pakistan to identify economic and social areas of regional collaboration that transcend political-ideological differences.