D-8 Commission to review visa restrictions

The group ofeEight developing countries (D-8) says it will review visa restrictions among member countries to facilitate more trade movement.

The Permanent Secretary in Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Martin Uhomoibhi, made this known in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital at the thirtieth session of the D-8 Commission.

Facilitating trade among members

Uhomoibhi said the focus of the session was to address issues that slow down trade among member states with the aim of focusing on small and medium scale enterprises.

In his words: “This conference wants to deal with such issues as the putting down of visa restrictions.

“The focus is to facilitate people-to-place interaction so that business people from these countries can move about freely.

“It will break down some of the customs barriers that impede slow economic transactions between them and it will also aim to create free trade areas where small and medium scale enterprises can take the centre stage in our economic programmes.”

Improving security

Uhomoibhi said the session would also review measures to tackle security, pointing out that this would not stop the commission from achieving the aim of promoting business and trade.

He also noted that the D-8 Commission would review the progress made in getting agreements signed and ratified by member countries.

Creating environment for business

Uhomoibhi urged government to provide the enabling environment for the private sector to thrive.

The D-8 Commissioner from Pakistan, Syed Hassan Raza, said one of the major objectives of the meeting would be to enliven the process of private sector involvement.

The thirtieth session of the D-8 Commission would review the status of implementation of previous D-8 decisions in priority areas such as trade, agriculture and food security, industrial cooperation and SMEs as well as transportation.

The D-8 countries include Nigeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan and Turkey.

NAN/Williams