Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Thursday said outcome of recently held D-8 Summit was nothing more than disappointment.
The Summit produced a largely meaningless document that failed to address the challenges the block is faced with, it said. The 35-point declaration of the eighth Summit was as flawed as the outcome, said Dr. Murtaza Mughal, President PEW. The D-8 member states are facing challenges like energy scarcity, international pressures, food security, communal violence, terrorism, natural disaster and a tarnished image which needed to be addressed through joint efforts, he said. However, the Summit failed to announce any solid decision and relied on promises, claims and hollow commitments, he added. Dr. Murtaza Mughal said that stressing the need for joint efforts is not enough to justify the spending on such an event when country is relying on aid and loans.
In fact, D-8 has done nothing since last 15 years therefore no one should pin any hope for betterment or change, he observed. He said that the summit has expressed intent to increase the bloc’s trade from $130 billion to US$507 billion by 2018 but it seems a difficult task in absence of any concrete plan.
Declaration was disappointing from any standard and remained useless as it was focused on using language to please masses. Majority of the countries of the group have enormous natural and human resources but what they lack is sincere leadership, Dr. Mughal noted.