1 - 7 March 2001
Issue No.523
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 1 - 7 March 2001 Issue No.523 |
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Trading ideas
Egypt assumed the chairmanship of the D-8 economic grouping on Sunday at a one-day summit held in Cairo, during which developing countries debated issues of Third World poverty and group trade. The eight D-8 member states -- Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey -- form an unofficial counter-grouping to that of the G-8, which brings together the world's most economically powerful nations. The first D-8 summit was held in Istanbul in 1997. This year's meeting was attended by six heads of state and government and two high-level officials.
D-8 summiteers: Iranian Kharazzi, Pakistan's Musharraf, Turkey's Cezar, Nigerian Obasanjo, Mubarak, Indonesia's Wahid, Bangladeshi Sheikha Hasina, Malaysia's Badawi
Egypt will steer the nascent D-8 over the next two years. At the close of the meeting on Sunday, President Hosni Mubarak announced the formation of a marketing and trade company for the group and a business forum. A series of meetings will also be held over the next 24 months to probe the prospects of inter-group cooperation and boosting the role played by the private sector.
The population of all D-8 countries combined amounts to some 800 million people -- about 13 per cent of the world's population -- but these countries share only 3.5 per cent of international trade among themselves. In his concluding remarks to the press, Mubarak said that during his chairmanship, this issue will be a priority. "Member states agreed to double trade among themselves to 7 per cent over the next five years," Mubarak said, noting that much of this will be achieved through the newly formed marketing and trading company. Member states will also work to simplify inter-group monetary exchange and tariffs and build a trade database for the D-8.
Mubarak had detailed his plan of action in his opening speech Sunday morning, saying that the era of globalisation opens the door to exchange and cooperation among countries "with minimal obstacles, through the free flow of ideas, people, services and products." Mubarak urged the world community to set a new agenda that redresses the imbalance in the international economy. He placed alleviating poverty at the forefront of world issues, followed closely by the need to solve trade and development funding problems.
At the same time, he called on G-8 countries to focus on doubling trade among the group's member states that emphasise cooperation in the fields of information technology (IT) and communication. Arguing that technological advancement cannot come at the expense of social development, Mubarak said that the developing world must keep an eye trained on employment problems and economic and environmental concerns.
Handing over the D-8 chairmanship, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikha Hasina Wajed said that the group gives a voice to those who don't have one. She said that poverty, along with illiteracy, disease, crime and drugs were holding nations like hers hostage, while rich countries benefited from new technologies and an increasingly globalised economy. Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid identified globalisation as both an opportunity and the greatest challenge ahead for developing countries, while Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said that removing obstacles hindering inter-group trade was of the utmost importance.
Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Cezar said that the private sector should be the main player in cementing economic cooperation within the group. Pakistan's military leader Pervez Musharraf agreed, adding that the involvement of the private sector is a valuable component of the activities and efforts of the group. Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Abdallah Ahmad Badawi, sitting in for premier Mahatir Mohammad, noted that the D-8 has many opportunities to promote prosperity for its people through the exchange of experience and know-how. "The best jihad for each Muslim to carry out is to work for the eradication of poverty and for the welfare and betterment of our Muslim societies," Badawi said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazzi blamed Israel for stalled economic growth in the region, saying that not only the Palestinians, "but other countries in this region have suffered from the insecurity caused by the Israeli arms race." Kharazzi noted that D-8 states need to focus on economic reform that will serve inter-group cooperation and work towards ending tensions among member states.
The next D-8 summit will convene in Indonesia in 2003. Until then, a series of meetings will be held to follow-up on the decisions of the Cairo summit dealing with the fields of energy, agricultural production, rural development and the fight against poverty. Egypt's Economy Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali was also assigned to hold a meeting with his D-8 counterparts as soon as possible to prepare a working paper ahead of the ministerial World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting, which will take place in Qatar in November.
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