The 1st D-8 Trade Ministers Council Meeting, hosted by the Federal Republic of Nigeria, was successfully held on 24-25 June 2013 in Abuja-Nigeria. The Meeting was attended by delegations from Member Countries of D-8, namely, the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Republic of Indonesia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Malaysia, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and the Republic of Turkey.

The meeting of Trade Ministers from the eight developing countries agreed that the Preferential Trade Agreement was a mile stone achievement in the 16 years history of the Eight Developing (D-8) countries for economic cooperation because of its capacity to boost trade and investment among member countries thereby reducing poverty and enriching our people.

The Ministers of Trade or Commerce, and the Head of Delegations have agreed upon to take the necessary steps towards achieving the objectives and goals of D-8 cooperation as stated in the Roadmap to increase intra-trade of D-8 states to at least 15-20% (USD 500 billion) of their global trade by the end of 2018. 

Delegations from member countries reported and shared their progress regarding the implementation of the D-8 PTA. Later on they recommend to the Trade Ministers Council that 1 November 2013 would be the new cut-off date for implementation of the first installment of tariff reductions and Member States will submit the Revised Offer Lists (transposed to HS Code 2012) to the D-8 Secretariat by 31 July 2013. After receiving the Revised Offer Lists, D-8 Secretariat will circulate to the member countries not later than 31 July 2013.

The meeting emphasized that it is very much important to improve linkages and efficient networking between and among D-8 governments, trade promotion agencies and private sectors for sharing best practices, enhancing fairness and promoting intra D-8 trade and a facilitative business environment.

On his part the Secretary General of the D-8 Organization, Seyed Ali Mohammed Mousavi made a case for more strategic arrangements that will make the process seamless and effective to achieve the desired result in the long run.

News related to this meeting in local and international media can be found from the below links: