D-8 Commission establishes Preferential Trade Agreement —report
Wall Street Journal | 5 July 2010
D-8 Commission Establishes Preferential Trade Agreement —Report
IBADAN, Nigeria (Dow Jones)—The Developing Eight, a group of developing countries, on Monday established a Preferential Trade Agreement to facilitate investment and economic cooperation among member states.
Speaking at the D-8 Business Forum in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, Nigeria’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, Jubril Martins-Kuye, said the agreement will promote free trade among member states and eliminate non-tariff barriers such as quotas, border charges, fees and taxes on transactions, according to a report by the News Agency of Nigeria.
The D-8 comprises Nigeria, Egypt, Turkey, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran and Pakistan. It was set up in 1997 to promote economic cooperation and solidarity among member states.
Martins-Kuye, who was represented by the permanent secretary in the ministry, Mohammed Abubakar, said the PTA covered 8% of D-8 country tariff lines above 10%.
He added that the agreement would, among other things, promote global trade and investment as the scope applied to trade in goods, phases of tariff reduction as contained in D-8 roadmap.
The roadmap aims to encourage greater economic cooperation among member states through the mobilization of resources from the government and private sources in implementing D-8 projects.
The minister said opportunities exist in industrial development, transportation, agriculture, tourism, solid minerals, energy, ICT and oil and gas, among others.
Also speaking, the Secretary-General of the D-8 Federation of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Mines, Abdoleza Hanjani, said the private sector must be encouraged to participate in D-8 programs, while describing them "as the drivers of the economy,"
Hanjani, who said the PTA was a positive development, urged the commission to address issues of visa and free movement, as they still posed a challenge to economic development.
Nigeria on Sunday took over the rotational two-year chairmanship of the D-8 from Malaysia and is hosting the 28th session of the commission, which began on July 4 and ends on July 8 with the summit of the group`s Heads of State and Government in Abuja on Thursday.
– By Obafemi Oredein, Dow Jones Newswires; 234 2 7510489
