By Xinhua,
Kuala Lumpur : The Developing 8 countries (D8) reaffirmed their support of the speedy accession of Iran into the World Trade Organization (WTO), the grouping said in a declaration adopted here on Tuesday.
International financial and trade system is an important component of international cooperation and should be fair, transparent and non discriminatory, according to the Kuala Lumpur Declaration adopted at the end of the 6th D8 Summit.
It should take into account the differences in the conditions of developing countries, particularly in ensuring equal access into the global economy and international economic organizations, the declaration said.
“In this context we reaffirm our full support of the speedy accession of the Islamic Republic of Iran into the WTO,” it noted.
“We consider this summit as a turning point in history of D8 cooperation while celebrating the 10 Year Anniversary of the organization adopting the 10 year Roadmap and other basic documents to enhance cooperation and solidarity among ourselves,” the declaration said.
“We endorse the Roadmap for Economic Cooperation in the Second Decade of Cooperation (2008-2018) as the vision to guide our activities in the next ten years and instruct the Commission as well as the Secretariat to translate the elements of the Roadmap into action plans in various fields of activities,” it said.
The Commission of D8 will also examine the initiative of Iran on the establishment of a Joint Investment Fund for supporting implementation of D8 projects, according to the declaration.
The declaration also noted that significant growth in intra D8 trade from 14.5 billion U.S. dollars in 1990 to 60.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2007.
The D8 countries believed that the trade volume will further increase with the entry into force of its Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA).
D8 comprises eight developing Muslim countries including Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey, with an objective to improve the position of Muslim developing countries in the global world economy through the diversification of their economies by creating new opportunities via increased trade relations.
The D8 Secretariat is based in Istanbul, Turkey. The last D8 Summit was hosted by Indonesia in Bali on May 13, 2006.