Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar calls for preferential trade & customs agreements among D-8 countries

In order to bolster economic cooperation, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Wednesday called for preferential trade, visa and customs agreement among the members of Developing Eight (D-8).

Addressing the D-8 Ministerial Council Meeting, the foreign minister said a mechanism should be evolved for greater interaction amongst the private sector of the D-8 countries to tap the true potential of economic cooperation.

Pakistan offered investment opportunities to foreign businessmen in energy, communication infrastructure and agriculture. In her view, Islamabad Summit will have significance as it was coinciding with the 15^th anniversary of the founding of the D-8 bloc.

She said Pakistan believes in stable and peaceful neighborhood to achieve regional prosperity. She said Pakistan believes in an afghan led and afghan owned reconciliation process. She said we are also engaged with India to resolve all the outstanding issues including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir.

Khar noted, “This journey, which we started in 1997, has enriched our fraternal relationships in the last many decades but there is so much more potential that we still have to tap and we hope that we start the journey of tapping that potential from here.”

She continued that the reason why the D-8 group of countries had come together in 1997 was only that they collectively believe that the better future of our people is within grasp.

She further stated, “We share an intrinsic optimism about the benefits of working together, reducing the barriers that exist between us and enriching the lives of the one billion people of the D-8 that we are proud to be a member of today.”

The Pakistani foreign minister added that the D-8 countries had a large number of young people and that the forum gave the opportunity to collectively and together reflect on how we can work together to break down the barriers to the free movement of goods, ideas, services people between our eight important countries.

She said that the Islamabad summit was the venue of adoption of two landmark documents – the D-8 Charter and the Global Vision. The foreign minister also condemned Israeli violence on Gaza.

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Posted by Web Desk on Nov 21 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.