The Customs Officials Meeting was held on 23rd October, 2018 in Ankara, Turkey at the Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Turkey. Delegates from the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Republic of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Republic of Turkey attended the meeting.

In the opening speech delivered by Mr. Nasir Aminu, Director I of the D-8 Secretariat, on behalf of the D-8 Secretary-General, he stated that despite the early progress made in Customs Agreement, many of the crucial issues related to the implementation of the PTA that pertain directly to customs arrangements are yet to be finalized. He expressed gratitude for the much-awaited meeting which would be an opportunity to advance the PTA agenda. He pointed out that D-8 Member States’ willingness to trade with each other has increased significantly and this is well reflected by the growing number of bilateral and multilateral agreements among them. In this regard, Secretary-General invited Member States to address the issues of Rules of Origin, operationalization and notification of D-8 Certificate of Origin and the Specimen of Certificate of Origin in order to expedite the implementation of the Agreement.

Following their fruitful deliberations, Member States agreed to solve pending issues and establish a Contact Office for customs matters at the earliest.