Session of developing -8 Commission starts in Pakistan

The 33rd session of Developing 8 countries named as D-8 started on Monday in Pakistan to review the progress made in intra-D-8 cooperation in several areas. The Advisor to the Prime Minister on National Security Sartaj Aziz inaugurated the event by highlighting the importance of the further cooperation of the group, said an official press release. Pakistan, holding the Chair of the D-8 Organization for Economic Development, is hosting Commissioners from Member Countries including Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria and Turkey. The D-8 Secretary-General Dr. Seyed Ali Mohammad Mousavi is holding a meeting to review progress in intra-D-8 cooperation in several areas in the context of road map of cooperation from 2008 to 2018. Pakistan assumed the chairmanship of the D-8 until 2014 during the D-8 Summit held in Islamabad on 22 November 2012. The importance on the agenda of the meeting is the review of D-8 Agreements relating to facilitation of trade and business among member countries. Pakistan has ratified all the agreements including the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) that is likely to be operational during the chairmanship of Pakistan. The member countries of the organization reflects one billion population and about USD 1 trillion market with efforts to increase the trade among the members up to USD 500 billion by 2018.