D-8 Officials Open 2-day Meet In Islamabad

Islamabad, Sept 3, IRNA - Senior officials from eight developing Muslim nations Monday started a two-day meeting in Islamabad to review progress on intra-D-8 cooperation in several areas in the context of road-map of cooperation from 2008 to 2018. Pakistan is hosting the session in its capacity as the current head of D-8 Organization for Economic Development. Delegates from member countries‚ including Bangladesh‚ Egypt‚ Indonesia‚ Iran‚ Malaysia‚ Nigeria‚ Pakistan and Turkey‚ and D-8 Secretary General Syed Ali Mohammad Mousavi are attending the session. On the sidelines, Mousavi will hold meetings with Sartaj Aziz, Adviser to the Prime Minister and Syed Tariq Fatemi, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister. He will also hold talks with several other senior officials. Sartaj Aziz, who inaugurated the session, underscored the need for further boost in economic cooperation among the member states. The Commissioner’s meeting is the first in a series of meetings which Pakistan will host as follow up of the Islamabad Summit. The leaders of member countries had adopted in Islamabad for the first time in the D-8 history, key documents including the organization’s Charter and its Global Vision for next two decades, apart from adopting the Islamabad Declaration 2012. The organization reflects combined population of one billion and a market of about one trillion dollars. The member countries envisage increasing intra D-8 trade to over US $500 billion by 2018./end