D-8 consensus on making PTA operational by June next

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FE Report
The 24th Economic Commission (EC) meeting of the D-8 group has reached consensus on making its Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) operational by June next and also on adoption of a 20-year road map for development in intra-member trade, commerce and investment.
"We strongly believe with the PTA in force that offers preferential tariff facilities, the D-8 intra trade will expand in coming years," a senior official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said.
The D-8 (Group of 8 developing Muslim countries) comprises Bangladesh, Egypt, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.
Senior officials of D-8 member states including Bangladesh met on November 22-23 last in Jakarta and reviewed the progress of the entire gamut of economic issues that were agreed upon by the heads of state of the group during the fifth summit in Bali, Indonesia in May, 2006.
Reviewing the global economic developments and current status of the D-8 cooperation, a meeting source said: "We have decided to adopt a 20-year road map for formulation of strategies, policies and measures to effectively enhance D-8 cooperation as our common efforts aim at overcoming basic problems of poverty and achieving sustainable growth."
"We have also reached consensus on making visa system easy for the business community of the member states," he said.
Another MoFA official said the 24th EC meeting, ahead of the sixth D-8 summit to be held in Malaysia in 2008, discussed matters concerning the draft Rules of Origin and other related instruments to help implement the PTA.
When asked, he said: "We have suggested a maximum of 30 per cent value addition,"
He said the Multilateral Agreement on Administrative Assistance on Harmonised Customs System was also discussed at the meeting.
The MoFA officials said the implementation of PTA will help Bangladesh increase export various products including pharmaceuticals, readymade garments and agro-processed foods to those countries under preferential tariff facilities.