Pakistan calls for effective strategy to meet D-8 roadmap 2020/30

NEW YORK: Pakistan has called for the need to adopt an effective strategy and monitoring mechanisms to ensure implementation of the decisions and initiatives of the D-8 Decennial Roadmap 2020/30.

Addressing an informal luncheon of the D-8 ministers hosted by Bangladesh, as chair of the D-8, on the sidelines of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly, Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to D-8 objectives and vision.

He also highlighted the country’s role in achieving the goals of the organisation and said that among other meetings, Pakistan hosted the 8th D-8 Summit in 2012, which adopted two landmark documents, including the D-8 Charter and its Global Vision.

The 15th and 16th sessions of the D-8 Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) were also hosted by Pakistan in 2012 and 2013, he added.

The foreign minister also reiterated the five-pronged roadmap proposed by Prime Minister Imran Khan at the 10th D-8 Summit, including mobilising resources to recover robustly from the economic and health crises induced by the Covid pandemic; taking concrete actions to take intra-D-8 trade to $500 billion by 2030; developing a “Youth Engagement Strategy”; intensifying cooperation for technological development; and making D-8 more relevant to the lives of the D-8 citizens by promoting food security, enhancing health and sports cooperation.

The foreign ministers and representatives of D-8 member states, including Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey attended the luncheon meeting.

The D-8 secretary general briefed the participants on the activities and new initiatives undertaken by the D-8 Secretariat since the last CFM held in April 2021.

The D-8 was established in Istanbul in 1997 to promote development cooperation among its member countries.