By NNN-Bernama,
Kuala Lumpur : The D8 group of Islamic developing countries is expected to come come up with an action plan to strengthen food security among member countries at its ministerial meeting here on Nov 2.
Apart from the Kuala Lumpur Initiative To Address Food Security, the meeting, which would chaired by Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman, would also discuss the grouping’s 10-year roadmap to encourage greater economic co-operation, the Foreign Ministry here said in a statement Tuesday.
The statement added that in addressing food security, five key areas had been outlined, namely seed bank, fertilizer, animal feed, standards and trade issues, and marine and fisheries. “The successful implementation of the Kuala Lumpur Initiative is expected to increase food production and strengthen food security in D8 countries,” the statement said.
The D8, or Developing Eight, are a group of developing countries with large Muslim populations which have formed an economic development alliance. The countries –Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkey — account for more than 13 per cent of the world’s population.
The D8 10-Year Roadmap endorsed during the sixth summit held in Kuala Lumpur last year is aimed at greater economic co-operation between member states and to mobilize resources from governmental and private sectors in implementing D8 projects.
It seeks to boost intra-trade among D8 countries from 5.0 per cent of their total global trade to between 15 and 20 per cent by 2018. The total global trade of the D8 nations stood at US$1.2 trillion in 2008.
The ministerial meeting will be preceded by the D8 Commission Meeting on Oct 30 and 31.
The D8 was established on June 15, 1997, in Istanbul and Malaysia took over the chairmanship of the group last year.