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> An India-Pakistan Détente: What It Could Mean for Sustainable Development

> in South Asia and Beyond, by Toufiq A. Siddiqi.

> AsiaPacific Issues, No. 75. 8 pp. See

> http://www.EastWestCenter.org/find.asp?it=api075.

>

> HONOLULU (Sept. 7) -- Peace between India and Pakistan could bring a broad

> range of benefits not only to the two countries but to the wider region,

> an East-West Center researcher writes in a new publication. Benefits

> include cooperation on energy imports and building an Asian highway

> network.

>

> Toufiq A. Siddiqi, an adjunct senior research fellow at the East-West

> Center and president of the Hawaii-based Global Environment and Energy in

> the 21st Century, says a lasting détente between India and Pakistan could

> benefit economic development, political relationships, resource management

> and trade patterns beyond South Asia to Central and Southeast Asia as

> well.

>

> Siddiqi focuses on interlinked sectors of energy, transportation and

> environment. For example, cooperation between India and Pakistan on

> importing energy via a natural-gas pipeline would support environmentally

> sound development. The improved road and rail system that would

> necessarily accompany a pipeline would support the goal of building an

> Asian highway network and the resurgence of cross-border trade.

>

> Lasting peace could also result in a substantial reduction in military

> spending, estimated to be about $10 billion and $3 billion for India and

> Pakistan respectively. "This 'peace dividend' could be used to build the

> natural gas pipeline, rail and road links, and infrastructure to handle

> increased regional trade," Siddiqi writes. "The benefits would go not only

> to India and Pakistan but also to neighboring countries and to the global

> community as a whole."

>

> Siddiqi calls upon the United States, China, the European Union, Middle

> East countries, the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, and other

> countries and organizations to continue to support the development of

> peace between the two countries.

>

> Toufiq A. Siddiqi can be reached at (808) 944-7456 or

> siddiqit@eastwestcenter.org.

>