ACHIEVING THE GOALS OF D-8
By Ben Shemang

The summit of eight developing nations otherwise known as D8, ended in Abuja the Nigerian capital last week.  The summit which is the seventh in the series saw the handing over of the mantle of leadership of the group to Nigeria.

 

The D8 alliance was founded on July 15, 1997 by the then Turkish Prime Minister, Necmettin Erbakan, with its members predominantly Islamic nations. These countries include Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.

 

The Abuja summit was convened at a time the world was gradually coming out of economic recession.  Member nations of D8 were of the view that workable decisions for the benefit of the group must be formulated if they were to fully recover from the economic recession.

 

Today, the volume of trade between the D8 countries stands at sixty eight million dollars.  This is a far cry from what the founding fathers of the D8 envisaged at its inception.    There is therefore, the need for an increase in the volume of trade among member nations.  The identified areas of cooperation to serve as engine room for the realization of this dream include: Finance, banking, rural development, science and technology, agriculture, health care delivery and tourism.

 

The seventh Summit of the D8 which was held under the theme “Enhancing Cooperation Among D-8 Member States”, resolved that intra D-8 investments were essential for deepening the economic relationship among member states. While recognizing that the present intra D-8 investments are far below the potentials of the member countries resolved to take immediate measures to encourage, facilitate and promote foreign direct investments in priority areas. The group also resolved to establish a D-8 investment fund and identify investment opportunities in the member countries, including the proposal by Iran to establish the D-8 Joint Investment Fund.

 

Similarly,   the leaders of the group agreed to ratify the preferential trade agreement among member nations.  The D8 also called for the fast-tracking of Customs Cooperation Agreement and Visa Regulatory Regime among its members.

 

Chairman of the D8 Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan, told his counterparts that his country remains an investor’s haven and first choice destination for genuine entrepreneurs. President Goodluck Jonathan said Nigeria was blessed with abundant raw materials with huge manpower that is waiting to be exploited.

 

Member nations of the D8 have begun reaping the dividends of their cooperation with direct flight between Egypt and Nigeria established and Cairo, Tehran and Ankara agreeing to establish a joint venture fertilizer complex in Egypt to boost food security.

 

To realize the goal of recording one point seven billion U.S dollars volume of trade by member nations by the year 2012, the group will need to go beyond lip service by putting into action all agreements reached at the Abuja summit. It is only then that the D8 would be said to be succeeding.