Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Monday called for an early removal of non-tariff barriers for the Developing Eight (D-8) countries so that they could benefit from the full potential of intra-trade between the D-8 nations.
The prime minister expressed these views while opening a four-day trade exhibition being held on the margins of the D-8 Summit here at the Pak-China Friendship Centre. All D-8 countries including Turkey, Iran, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Malaysia, Indonesia, Egypt and the host country Pakistan have put their products on display at their designated pavilions.
The D-8 countries’ share in global trade has already increased from $67 billion in 2008 to $130 billion last year, which is almost double and in this event a strategy will be chalked out to increase their share by 15 per cent. The event was attended by exhibitors and business delegates and the representatives of trade bodies.
The prime minister was accompanied by foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar, commerce minister Amin Fahim and minister of state for foreign affairs Malik Ammad Khan later went around the exhibition and visited stalls of the participating countries. Over 100 stalls have been setup by different companies from abroad while around 40 Pakistani companies have also put their products on display.
Addressing the audience, the prime minister urged the D-8 states to establish “enduring trade partnerships” for the prosperity of their peoples. He said that the D-8 countries had a huge market of close to a billion people, stressing that intra-trade was the way to improve their economic indicators.
“Promotion of business-to-business linkages among the member countries lies at the core of D-8’s strategy to promote economic welfare of our peoples,” he said, hoping that with consistency, the D-8countries could achieve the intra-D-8 trade target of US$ 500 billion by 2018, and may even surpass it.
He sought an early removal of non-tariff barriers to benefit from the full potential of intra D-8 trade. He also proposed promotion of trade in services which would immensely benefit D-8 countries. Raja Ashraf said that Pakistan was keen to expand business and trade relations with the D-8 member countries. He mentioned that Pakistan had ratified all three key agreements including the one on preferential trade and was convinced that implementation of tariff concessions under this agreement would lead the D-8 community towards greater economic integration.
He said Pakistan, on the eve of the D-8 Summit, had also taken the initiative of hosting the first-ever meeting of the heads of trade promotion organizations (TPOs). He said the initiative was intended to institutionalize trade relations among D-8 members and added that the TPOs could play a critical role in catalyzing the private sector and identifying avenues of cooperation in trade promotion.
Expressing satisfaction over the fifteen-year journey of the D-8 governments that had taken many practical steps to facilitate promotion of trade, the Prime Minister expressed satisfaction and said that in this regard, important framework agreements such as preferential trade agreement, agreement on visa facilitation and cooperation on customs matters. He said efforts were underway to promote institutional linkages among the business community.
PM for early removal of NTBs for D-8 states
