Sartaj Aziz:There Is A Trade Imbalance Between Pakistan-Indonesia

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - As a co-sponsor of the Asia-Africa Conference 60 years ago, Pakistan regards its commemoration last week in Jakarta and Bandung as a very important event. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had planned to attend, but a call from Saudi Arabia cancelled his plan. He flew to Riyadh instead, to discuss the crisis in Yemen. "He sends his regrets," his advisor on national security and foreign affairs, Sartaj Aziz, head of the Pakistani delegation, told Tempo reporters Maria Hasugian, Natalia Santi and Purwani Diyah. Excerpts:

How can this conference encourage more concrete cooperation between the member states?

Ten years ago there was the New Asian-African Strategic Partnership. That is something which is now elevated. The most important one is connectivity between African and Asian countries. There is also great scope for new institutions which are more sensitive to Asia and Africa, as the president of Indonesia said in his speech: global finance institutions like the World Bank might not be quite enough. I also think we need greater trade arrangements between Asian and African countries. Finally, I would say people to people contact is critical. So I think the conference gives us the opportunity to strengthen cooperation.

What about bilateral relations between Pakistan and Indonesia?

Pakistan and Indonesia have a very good relationship. Now, our focus is on economic relations. I think in the last few years, it expanded, particularly in the last two years after the preferential trade agreement was signed. That increase happened mainly in terms of Indonesia's exports to Pakistan. This is an imbalance. What we need now is to move from a preferential trade agreement toa free trade agreement, so that Pakistan's exports have more opportunities. Then the trade becomes more balanced.

What about military and security cooperation between the two countries?

I think defense cooperation has also increased. Now, the cooperation is more on counter-terrorism.

Pakistan and Indonesia face similar problem: terrorism. What is your strategy to eradicate terrorism or even radicalism?

For Pakistan, the problem occured after the 9/11 tragedy. The Mujaheedin were trained by Pakistan and the US but then they gradually attacked us. In the last 12 to 14 years, they have been active in the troubled areas of Pakistan. We have lost close to 60,000 people in the last 13 years. Financial loses have reached more than hundreds of billions of dollars. We are have suffered the most from terrorism.

How do you plan to stop them?

We had an operation in Karachi on September 2013, and last June we started the Zarb-e-Azb (Warriors of Islam) operation. Last December, after the attack to the school in Peshawar, a new comprehensive national action plan was launched. We monitor and control madrasahs. We also monitor their financial flow and we started a major de-radicalization program.

Should Asia and Africa countries collaborate to fight radicalism and terrorism?

We can learn from each other. I think each country has to make sure that all factors leading to terrorism are tackled. The most important element in my view is education. We must find ways, not to allow people to misinterpret Islam, since Islam is one dimension used by the terrorists. Terrorism has no religion. (*)