Foreign ministers of the developing eight (D-8) member countries
agreed in Bali on Thursday to set up a secretariat to be operated
by a secretary general, a director and an economic expert in an
effort to strengthen D-8 cooperation in the economic and trade
fields, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said.
Talking to press here on Thursday evening, Wirajuda said the
foreign ministers agreed that the D-8 group needed a secretariat to
support the work of this group.
The minister made the remarks when explaining the results of the
D-8 Foreign Ministers' Council Meeting on Thursday and of the D-8
Commissioners' Meeting on May 9-10, 2006.
He said the establishment of the secretariat was important and
strategic owing to the fact that the D-8 group had no secretariat
since the group was formed in Istanbul, Turkey, on June 15, 1997,
so that the organization progress had often been disturbed.
But, the ministers were not yet able to decide which country
would host the secretariat, and to assign a secretary general,
director and economic expert.
Wirajuda also explained that Iran, a member of the D-8 group
which was holding a summit in Bali, would hand over its
chairmanship of the group to Indonesia for the next 2006-2007 term
of office.
For that purposes, Indonesia, he said, planned to hold several
D-8 meetings, among others the Third Meeting of the Working Group
on Energy in Yogyakarta next July.
The D-8 Group was set up in Istanbul on June 15, 1997, by
Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and
Turkey.
The significant progress it has made included the making of
industrial and technology data of D-8 Group, the omission of some
trade barriers of members of the organization, and agreement on
custom administration assistance.
The D-8 Group has already held four summits, 8 ministerial
meetings, 19 senior official meetings and some expert meetings
which discussed energy, trade, industrial, and banking sectors
since it was formed nine years ago.
Heads of state and government of the 8-D will host a summit on
Saturday here to discuss cooperation among the member countries and
signed several agreements, official sources said.
(Xinhua News Agency May 12, 2006)
