LAHORE, Oct 4: Former President of the SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry Iftikhar Ali Malik on Sunday said Pakistan must use its diplomatic capital to promote regional economic integration, strengthen ties and ensure stable relations with Iran, while expanding economic links with Central Asian states to enlarge the country’s economic space.In a statement issued here, he said Afghanistan, Iran and the Central Asian countries could emerge as important markets for Pakistani goods and services.He said Gwadar had the potential to become a transshipment and logistics gateway for landlocked Central Asian economies, generating transit revenues and creating new opportunities for Pakistani exporters.Iftikhar Ali Malik said Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan offered promising markets that Pakistan had so far penetrated only modestly.He said improved regional connectivity could help revive major projects such as the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, TAPI and CASA, subject to their political, financial, commercial and security feasibility.He said greater regional trade would generate demand for transport, logistics, warehousing, banking, insurance, information technology and manufacturing, creating employment opportunities and giving border communities a greater economic stake in regional stability.He stressed that fiscal reforms, restructuring of the energy sector, taxation reforms, deregulation, privatisation, export diversification, human capital development and institutional reforms must continue without interruption.However, he said these measures must be supported by steps to reduce the security premium imposed on economic activity.Iftikhar Ali Malik said security and development were two sides of the same national strategy, as insecurity increased transaction costs, discouraged investment, damaged infrastructure, disrupted trade, deterred foreign personnel and restricted employment opportunities.He said Pakistan’s objective should be to build an economy in which security, development and opportunity reinforced each other.“Military capability can suppress threats, but only sustained economic development, effective institutions, political stability and regional peace can remove many of the conditions that allow those threats to regenerate,” he concluded.