ISLAMABAD: D-8 conference held in Islamabad has sent a soft and positive message to the world that Pakistan is a peaceful country and becoming a safe haven for the foreign investors and Pakistan has great trade potential which is needed to be explored.
This was stated by experts while talking in Radio Pakistan’s News and Current Affairs’ program. Former Ambassador B.A. Malik said to enhance the trade volume up to USD 500 billion would be a great achievement.
Pakistan had successfully been fighting a war against terrorism and peace was restored in the country, he said adding that due to which, foreign investors were taking keen interest to invest in development projects in Pakistan.
Former Ambassador Mushtaq Ahmed Mehr was of the opinion; Constitution of D-8 was a brilliant idea of Muslim countries as it would improve the trade volume and relation among the member countries of this organization.
“Gulf countries can also play a vital role to improve the economy of our country through investment in development projects in Pakistan.” he remarked.
Pakistan was playing a vital role to defuse the Iran-Saudia tension; If it succeeds, then it would benefit all the countries of the region in promoting trade, he maintained.
Former Finance Minister, Dr. Ashfaq Hassan Khan said,”A group of developing Islamic countries has agreed to boost their trade volume from the existing 120.5 billion U.S. dollars to 500 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2018 which needs all out efforts to be made possible.”
“Almost 52% of the regional trade is going on among these countries. Trade ministers from the D-8, grouping eight Islamic countries agreed to operationalise their Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) from 1st July this year,” he said.
Economist Dr. Shahid Hassan Siddiqui making a mention of IMF’s appreciation for the economic policies of the present government as well as visit of Trade Ministers of D-8 to Pakistan and also that of President of World Bank, said all that was reflective of the fact that Pakistan was becoming a safe haven for the foreign investors.
Moreover, it was a positive development and it would improve the economy of Pakistan, he added.
Pakistan could also improve its trade relations with Iran as economic sanctions on Iran had now been lifted, he suggested.
Economist, Dr. Saboor Ghayur said that D-8 conference held in Islamabad sent a soft and positive message to the world that Pakistan was a peaceful country.
Analyst, Dr. Abid Qayyum Sulehri said that there was a great trade potential in the region which was needed to be explored.
After the uplifting of economic sanctions on Iran, many countries have been trying to improve trade relations with this country and Pakistan can also take the advantage.
It is pertinent to mention that the (D-8) is a group of Muslim countries, comprising Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Turkey and Pakistan.
The establishment of D-8 was announced by the heads of state/government in Istanbul on June 15, 1997.
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