::. Pakistan And The D-8
D-8, also known as developing-8 is an arrangement for development cooperation among the following member countries: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey. The objectives of D-8 are to improve developing countries' positions in the world economy, diversify and create new opportunities in trade relations, enhance participation in decision-making at the international level, and provide better standards of living.
The idea of cooperation between major Muslim developing countries was mooted by Dr. Necmetin Erbakan, the former Prime Minister of Turkey during a Seminar on "Cooperation in Development", held in Istanbul in October 1996. The group envisioned cooperation among countries from regions stretching from South East Asia to Africa. Representatives from Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria and Pakistan attended the Seminar. The D-8 was formally established at a Summit of Heads of Sate/Government in Istanbul held on 15 June 1997.
The Istanbul Declaration, adopted by the inaugural Summit envisaged improving developing countries' position in the world economy, diversifying and creating new opportunities in trade relations, enhancing participation in decision-making at the international level and providing better standards of living to the masses of the member countries, as the objectives of the Group.
The principal organs of the D-8 are the Summit, the Council and the Commission. The Summit is the supreme organ and is composed of the Heads of State/Government of the member countries and is convened biannually. The Council comprises Ministers in-charge of Foreign Affairs and is the political decision-making organ. The Commission is the executive organ of the D-8 and is composed of senior officials appointed by their respective countries. To supervise the provision of services at the meetings and to ensure an efficient communication among member states, a Coordinating Unit headed by an Executive Director has been established in Istanbul.
Ten sectors have been identified for cooperation and project development by the D-8. These sectors have been awarded to different member countries to coordinate action in their own designated spheres of development as follows:
Establishment of an International Marketing and Trading Company (Egypt).
Workshop on Poverty Alleviation (Indonesia).
Establishment of an Industrial and Technological Data Bank Network among D-8 (Iran).
Establishment of Takaful Schemes (Insurance), including joint ventures between the companies of D-8 (Malaysia).
Cooperation for the Development of Inland and Coastal Aquaculture (Pakistan).
Design, Development, Production, and Marketing of Agricultural Aircraft (Turkey).
Member Countries
Pakistan
Bangladesh
Egypt
Indonesia
Iran
Malaysia
Nigeria
Turkey
Summits
The first summit was held in Istanbul in 1997.
The second summit was held in Dhaka in March 1999
The third summit was held in Cairo in February 2001
The fourth Summit was held in Tehran on 18 February 2004.
Prime Minister of Pakistan at the fourth D-8 summit urged the D-8 nations to give impetus to the economic activity by removing trade barriers. He gave a six-point plan to further enhance co-operation within the group. The plan included: reduction and elimination of tariffs and para-tariffs, harmonisation of standards and simplification of custom procedures, re-strengthening of transportation and communication, provision of affordable healthcare, expansion of co-operation in areas of information technology and higher learning, and strengthening of the Istanbul-based D-8 co-ordination unit. To expedite implementation of the decisions of D-8 countries’ recent (Tehran) summit meeting, 10 seminars will be held. Of these, Pakistan will host four seminars.
For further details please visit
http://www.d8net.org