The suggestion came during a session titled “South Asia in a Changing World” on the second day of the 28th Sustainable Development Conference, organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).
SDPI Executive Director Dr. Abid Qaiyum Suleri said that discussions on reviving SAARC are gaining momentum once again. He noted that South Asia needs renewed cooperation to overcome shared economic and environmental challenges.
Former government advisor Imran Shauket said SAARC is “on life support” but argued that regional economic integration must continue, even without strong political unity.
Michael Kugelman, South Asia expert at the Wilson Center, called SAARC “dead in the water” but still revivable, noting that it remains one of the few regional forums where all eight members share equal standing.
Haroon Sharif, Chairman of the Pakistan Regional Economic Forum, said South Asian countries must move beyond outdated aid-based thinking. “The time of aid has passed,” he said, urging nations to focus on local growth and economic independence.
Brig. (retd) Feroz Hassan Khan said Pakistan’s challenge lies not in benefiting from opportunities but in sustaining them. Kugelman added that Pakistan faces regional isolation as other South Asian countries build stronger ties.
At another SDPI session on public debt, Naveed Qamar, Chairman of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee, warned that Pakistan’s debt has become unsustainable. He urged parliament to enforce fiscal discipline.
Economists including Dr. Farooq Sattar and Muzzammil Aslam called for an independent debt-reporting authority, while officials from the Finance Ministry said Pakistan’s framework now meets international transparency standards.
In discussions on clean energy, Faisal Sharif from PPIB said Pakistan must rapidly mobilize climate finance and expand renewable energy to meet its 2030 and 2035 emission targets.
Experts from Bangladesh, UNESCAP, and IRENA stressed that South Asia’s energy and climate challenges demand cooperation, financing, and strong institutions to build sustainable futures.
