D-8 summit: fruitful or same old drill?
Billy Ahmed | Friday, 25 July 2008
The sixth summit of D-8 countries took place on 08 July at Kuala Lumpur. The member countries that attended were Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia, Nigeria and Turkey.
The journey of D-8 began in October 1996 when the then Turkish Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan initiated the concept of creating a Muslim parallel organization similar to EU and what was then the G-7. The organization was formally launched on June 15, 1997 in Istanbul.
The summit is held every two years to discuss and review diversified issues mainly focusing on increasing trade and economic cooperation among the member states.
The theme of 2008 summit was: "Meeting global challenges through innovative cooperation." The global challenges that came under the scope of the summit were the soaring price of oil, the food crisis and climate change.
The foreign ministers of the D-8 at KL made a robust 10-year road map, ahead of the leaders' summit, for economic collaborations among member states.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said the two-phased roadmap envisaged increased intra-trade from the current five per cent to between 15 and 20 per cent by 2018.
"Currently, intra-trade between member states is only five per cent of the total D-8 global trade. By the end of 2018, we want intra-trade to grow to 15 per cent to 20 per cent of the total D-8 trade," he said.
'The road map will also provide the framework for enhancing cooperation, the guide and formula to implement D-8 programmes and projects, assist in mobilising resources from governmental and non-governmental sectors.
It will also broaden support for the D-8 community, the private sector and the grouping's economic cooperation initiatives," he told reporters on the sidelines of the 11th session of the D-8 Council of Ministers meeting.
The road map's main thrust from 2008-2013, will focus on D-8 Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) and Rules of Origin (RoO), customs and visa, industrial and business cooperation.
The second phase, between 2013 and 2018, is to achieve intra-trade target of $ 517.5 billion or between 15 per cent and 20 per cent of D-8 global trade.
The road map, among others, also spells out trade facilitations, customs cooperation, capacity building, migrant workers, small and medium-scale enterprises and information and communications technology.
The foreign ministers also approved a permanent secretariat for the D-8 following a consensus among member states for an annual contribution.
The secretariat will be headed by the D-8 secretary-general. Currently, the secretariat is composed of three organs; Secretary-General (Indonesia), Director (Iran) and Economist (Turkey).
The proposed set-up envisages all these areas concentrated in a single office that is the secretary-general. For the moment, the secretariat is based in Ankara but once the office of the secretary-general is created, it may be shifted to some other country.
There is nevertheless a wider consensus among the member states to keep the secretariat in Ankara, keeping in view the logistic support extended to it by the Turkish government.
It maybe mentioned that the structure of this organisation has three main pillars: The Summit, The Council and The Commission. The Summit, which is the supreme organ of the D-8, consists of the heads of state/government of the member states. It is convened once every two years.
The last summit meeting was held in Bali, Indonesia on May 13, 2006.
The Council is composed of the ministers-in-charge of foreign affairs of member states. It is the political decision-making organ of the D-8, and acts as a forum for thorough and comprehensive consideration of issues.
The last council meeting was held in New York during the United Nations General Assembly session on September 2006.
The Commission is the executive body of D-8.
It is composed of senior officials appointed by their respective governments. Each Commissioner is responsible for the national coordination in his/her respective country.
The D-8 as it appears to have borrowed this idea from the European Union (EU) that works exactly on the same lines and with same administrative structures.
However, the mandate and range of powers of the EU institutions is far greater and wider than the D-8, for the EU organs function in an independent manner and their recommendations carry huge weight.
On the contrary, the D-8, or for that matter the Muslim countries' body, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), are dominated by the heads of state or government who are the ones calling all shots and are not bound to follow the recommendations put forth by various organs of these organisations.
It is because of this, be it D-8, the OIC or the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc), all of them have failed to come up to the expectation of the masses.
It is ironical to note that these organisations do seek inspiration from the EU, which undoubtedly happens to be the 'living legend' of the present times, but never match its policies, which can surely bring progress and prosperity to the people of this region.
For example, intra-trade among the Saarc and D-8 countries stands at only five per cent while it is over 55 per cent in case of the EU member states.
Now, this is the area that needs immediate attention and which can really upgrade living standard of the 930 million people.
Among the D-8 countries, Iran, Nigeria and to some extent Egypt possesses oil reserves and can help other members but it is observed that these countries are reluctant to share it with others on one pretext or another.
One of the main objectives of the summit was to resolve the deepening fuel crisis but no tangible progress was achieved except lip-service.
The main barricade in the way of this coalition to achieve needed results is an increasing level of instability and volatile situation in most of the D-8 member countries, because of which they are unable to move forward.
This is, in fact, the fundamental question that needs to be addressed if these countries want to perform well in the fields of trade and economy and this is the key to the success or failure of D-8.
However, the D-8 summit in Kuala Lumpur proposed some crisp declaration which only the time will tell whether these were run-of-the- mill declaration and the same old drill of making stereotype speech and exchanging pleasantry in the summit.
The writer is a tea planter, columnist and researcher. He can be reached at : E-mail: [email protected]
The journey of D-8 began in October 1996 when the then Turkish Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan initiated the concept of creating a Muslim parallel organization similar to EU and what was then the G-7. The organization was formally launched on June 15, 1997 in Istanbul.
The summit is held every two years to discuss and review diversified issues mainly focusing on increasing trade and economic cooperation among the member states.
The theme of 2008 summit was: "Meeting global challenges through innovative cooperation." The global challenges that came under the scope of the summit were the soaring price of oil, the food crisis and climate change.
The foreign ministers of the D-8 at KL made a robust 10-year road map, ahead of the leaders' summit, for economic collaborations among member states.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said the two-phased roadmap envisaged increased intra-trade from the current five per cent to between 15 and 20 per cent by 2018.
"Currently, intra-trade between member states is only five per cent of the total D-8 global trade. By the end of 2018, we want intra-trade to grow to 15 per cent to 20 per cent of the total D-8 trade," he said.
'The road map will also provide the framework for enhancing cooperation, the guide and formula to implement D-8 programmes and projects, assist in mobilising resources from governmental and non-governmental sectors.
It will also broaden support for the D-8 community, the private sector and the grouping's economic cooperation initiatives," he told reporters on the sidelines of the 11th session of the D-8 Council of Ministers meeting.
The road map's main thrust from 2008-2013, will focus on D-8 Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) and Rules of Origin (RoO), customs and visa, industrial and business cooperation.
The second phase, between 2013 and 2018, is to achieve intra-trade target of $ 517.5 billion or between 15 per cent and 20 per cent of D-8 global trade.
The road map, among others, also spells out trade facilitations, customs cooperation, capacity building, migrant workers, small and medium-scale enterprises and information and communications technology.
The foreign ministers also approved a permanent secretariat for the D-8 following a consensus among member states for an annual contribution.
The secretariat will be headed by the D-8 secretary-general. Currently, the secretariat is composed of three organs; Secretary-General (Indonesia), Director (Iran) and Economist (Turkey).
The proposed set-up envisages all these areas concentrated in a single office that is the secretary-general. For the moment, the secretariat is based in Ankara but once the office of the secretary-general is created, it may be shifted to some other country.
There is nevertheless a wider consensus among the member states to keep the secretariat in Ankara, keeping in view the logistic support extended to it by the Turkish government.
It maybe mentioned that the structure of this organisation has three main pillars: The Summit, The Council and The Commission. The Summit, which is the supreme organ of the D-8, consists of the heads of state/government of the member states. It is convened once every two years.
The last summit meeting was held in Bali, Indonesia on May 13, 2006.
The Council is composed of the ministers-in-charge of foreign affairs of member states. It is the political decision-making organ of the D-8, and acts as a forum for thorough and comprehensive consideration of issues.
The last council meeting was held in New York during the United Nations General Assembly session on September 2006.
The Commission is the executive body of D-8.
It is composed of senior officials appointed by their respective governments. Each Commissioner is responsible for the national coordination in his/her respective country.
The D-8 as it appears to have borrowed this idea from the European Union (EU) that works exactly on the same lines and with same administrative structures.
However, the mandate and range of powers of the EU institutions is far greater and wider than the D-8, for the EU organs function in an independent manner and their recommendations carry huge weight.
On the contrary, the D-8, or for that matter the Muslim countries' body, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), are dominated by the heads of state or government who are the ones calling all shots and are not bound to follow the recommendations put forth by various organs of these organisations.
It is because of this, be it D-8, the OIC or the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc), all of them have failed to come up to the expectation of the masses.
It is ironical to note that these organisations do seek inspiration from the EU, which undoubtedly happens to be the 'living legend' of the present times, but never match its policies, which can surely bring progress and prosperity to the people of this region.
For example, intra-trade among the Saarc and D-8 countries stands at only five per cent while it is over 55 per cent in case of the EU member states.
Now, this is the area that needs immediate attention and which can really upgrade living standard of the 930 million people.
Among the D-8 countries, Iran, Nigeria and to some extent Egypt possesses oil reserves and can help other members but it is observed that these countries are reluctant to share it with others on one pretext or another.
One of the main objectives of the summit was to resolve the deepening fuel crisis but no tangible progress was achieved except lip-service.
The main barricade in the way of this coalition to achieve needed results is an increasing level of instability and volatile situation in most of the D-8 member countries, because of which they are unable to move forward.
This is, in fact, the fundamental question that needs to be addressed if these countries want to perform well in the fields of trade and economy and this is the key to the success or failure of D-8.
However, the D-8 summit in Kuala Lumpur proposed some crisp declaration which only the time will tell whether these were run-of-the- mill declaration and the same old drill of making stereotype speech and exchanging pleasantry in the summit.
The writer is a tea planter, columnist and researcher. He can be reached at : E-mail: [email protected]