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Asia Times Online :: Global Economy
Nov 6, 2009
D-8 looks forward to stronger ties
By Kaveh L Afrasiabi
The overlap of global economic recovery and new trends in "sub-globalization" has found its latest confirmation in this month's summit of the Group of Eight Islamic Developing Countries, or D-8.
The group was established to address the "insufficient" position of the member states in the world economy as well as their exclusion from key global economic decision-making, according to the group's first communique in July 1997.
The D-8 comprises Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey. Its "D-8 road map" aims to encourage greater economic cooperation between member states and to assist in mobilizing resources from governmental and private sectors in implementing D-8 projects, such as an initiative to address food security in member countries.
The road map, which was endorsed at last year's D-8 summit of leaders, calls for boosting the contribution of D8 members from 5% of total global trade (that is, US$1.2 trillion) to 15-20% by 2018. This is a rather ambitious goal, given that it hinges on the group's ability to reach an agreement on a preferential trade agreement (PTA).
"When the PTA comes in force, we should see greater intra-trade among D-8 members," Malaysia's D-8 commissioner, Zailol Abedin Omar, told an expert meeting of the D-8 in Kuala Lampur in late October. But, given the myriad problems facing a PTA among the D-8, such as conflict with other bilateral and multilateral commitments, disparate economies, this may prove a long and frustrating wait, as it has been for another regional group, the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO).
The ECO, which includes three D-8 members - Iran, Pakistan and Turkey - has been trying in vain to formulate a similar PTA among its 10 member states since the early 1990s.
But, after focusing "on organizational work" during the first decade of its existence, to paraphrase D-8 secretary general, Dip Alam, the stage is set for greater and more meaningful cooperation among the D-8 nations, comprising some 950 million people, or 15% of the world's population, with a growing 400 million labor force. The group is organically connected to two larger groupings, the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), currently chaired by Egypt, a country recently hailed by the World Bank for its economic reforms.
In addition to promoting multilateral trade and economic cooperation, the importance of the D-8 lies in its ability to foster bilateral and trilateral cooperation, which is why countries such as Turkey and Pakistan, the two nations with most trade with other D-8 economies, are enhancing their ties, reflected in a recent speech of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Pakistan's parliament, outlining the various areas, in trade, energy and others, where Turkish-Pakistani relations are on the upswing.
Considered as a "gateway to Europe", to quote an Iranian official, Mohsen Rezaee, visiting Ankara recently, Turkey is playing a prominent role in fostering "intra-Islamic" cooperation by, among other measures, increasing investment in such Arab countries as Egypt, aiming to increase the current figure of about $500 million to $2 billion Turkish investment in Egypt within two years.
Clearly, with the impasse for Turkey's inclusion into the European Union continuing, Ankara is determined to maximize the economic and strategic benefit of playing the "Islamic cooperation" card, even if it means de-emphasizing ties to Israel, in light of Ankara's recent last-minute decision to replace Israel with Syria in a joint military exercise.
With respect to Iran, Erdogan's high-profile recent visit to that country, followed immediately by a trip to Washington, has enhanced the impression of his interlocutor role between the United States and Iran. Turkey and Iran have ushered in a new era of economic cooperation, with the two hoping to increase the volume of their trade substantially within the next few years, in light of Iran's status as Turkey's second supplier of gas after Russia.
Also, priding itself in its successful private-sector development, Turkey, along with Malaysia, is poised to play a leading role in promoting D-8 private-sector cooperation, through joint ventures and the like.
For Iran, on the other hand, soliciting the D-8's political and diplomatic support at this critical hour in the Iran nuclear standoff is highly important, all the more reason why Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, attending the D-8 summit of foreign ministers this week, framed the nuclear dispute in terms of Iran versus "the West".
Already, Erdogan's solid support for "Iran's completely peaceful nuclear program" has set the stage for a more forceful position on this matter on the part of the D-8, thus thrusting the D-8 more into the international limelight.
Having set up a permanent secretariat last year, the D-8 is no longer a transient group seeking to justify the rationale for its existence, particularly since the current global economic crisis has convinced many in the developing nations that new and more creative efforts at global "sub-groupism" are called for.
Initially envisioned as a Third World counterweight to the Group of Eight leading industrialized countries (now expanded to the Group of 20), the more the D-8 establishes itself, the more developing nations will be inclined to apply for membership.
Yet, some member states are weary of any premature expansion that could turn it "into another ECO", in light of the ECO's rapid expansion in the early 1990s from three to 10 member states, a prime reason for its present sub-optimal performance, according to many experts. It would be better to stay as a compact trans-regional group providing a forum for strategic dialogue among some key developing nations.
It's a long road, but one that dovetails nicely with the NAM's strategic "South-to-South" trade, which has gained new attractiveness as a result of the current global recession.
If successful, the D-8 may set an example for similar sub-groups traversing the continents.
Nov 6, 2009
D-8 looks forward to stronger ties
By Kaveh L Afrasiabi
The overlap of global economic recovery and new trends in "sub-globalization" has found its latest confirmation in this month's summit of the Group of Eight Islamic Developing Countries, or D-8.
The group was established to address the "insufficient" position of the member states in the world economy as well as their exclusion from key global economic decision-making, according to the group's first communique in July 1997.
The D-8 comprises Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey. Its "D-8 road map" aims to encourage greater economic cooperation between member states and to assist in mobilizing resources from governmental and private sectors in implementing D-8 projects, such as an initiative to address food security in member countries.
The road map, which was endorsed at last year's D-8 summit of leaders, calls for boosting the contribution of D8 members from 5% of total global trade (that is, US$1.2 trillion) to 15-20% by 2018. This is a rather ambitious goal, given that it hinges on the group's ability to reach an agreement on a preferential trade agreement (PTA).
"When the PTA comes in force, we should see greater intra-trade among D-8 members," Malaysia's D-8 commissioner, Zailol Abedin Omar, told an expert meeting of the D-8 in Kuala Lampur in late October. But, given the myriad problems facing a PTA among the D-8, such as conflict with other bilateral and multilateral commitments, disparate economies, this may prove a long and frustrating wait, as it has been for another regional group, the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO).
The ECO, which includes three D-8 members - Iran, Pakistan and Turkey - has been trying in vain to formulate a similar PTA among its 10 member states since the early 1990s.
But, after focusing "on organizational work" during the first decade of its existence, to paraphrase D-8 secretary general, Dip Alam, the stage is set for greater and more meaningful cooperation among the D-8 nations, comprising some 950 million people, or 15% of the world's population, with a growing 400 million labor force. The group is organically connected to two larger groupings, the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), currently chaired by Egypt, a country recently hailed by the World Bank for its economic reforms.
In addition to promoting multilateral trade and economic cooperation, the importance of the D-8 lies in its ability to foster bilateral and trilateral cooperation, which is why countries such as Turkey and Pakistan, the two nations with most trade with other D-8 economies, are enhancing their ties, reflected in a recent speech of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Pakistan's parliament, outlining the various areas, in trade, energy and others, where Turkish-Pakistani relations are on the upswing.
Considered as a "gateway to Europe", to quote an Iranian official, Mohsen Rezaee, visiting Ankara recently, Turkey is playing a prominent role in fostering "intra-Islamic" cooperation by, among other measures, increasing investment in such Arab countries as Egypt, aiming to increase the current figure of about $500 million to $2 billion Turkish investment in Egypt within two years.
Clearly, with the impasse for Turkey's inclusion into the European Union continuing, Ankara is determined to maximize the economic and strategic benefit of playing the "Islamic cooperation" card, even if it means de-emphasizing ties to Israel, in light of Ankara's recent last-minute decision to replace Israel with Syria in a joint military exercise.
With respect to Iran, Erdogan's high-profile recent visit to that country, followed immediately by a trip to Washington, has enhanced the impression of his interlocutor role between the United States and Iran. Turkey and Iran have ushered in a new era of economic cooperation, with the two hoping to increase the volume of their trade substantially within the next few years, in light of Iran's status as Turkey's second supplier of gas after Russia.
Also, priding itself in its successful private-sector development, Turkey, along with Malaysia, is poised to play a leading role in promoting D-8 private-sector cooperation, through joint ventures and the like.
For Iran, on the other hand, soliciting the D-8's political and diplomatic support at this critical hour in the Iran nuclear standoff is highly important, all the more reason why Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, attending the D-8 summit of foreign ministers this week, framed the nuclear dispute in terms of Iran versus "the West".
Already, Erdogan's solid support for "Iran's completely peaceful nuclear program" has set the stage for a more forceful position on this matter on the part of the D-8, thus thrusting the D-8 more into the international limelight.
Having set up a permanent secretariat last year, the D-8 is no longer a transient group seeking to justify the rationale for its existence, particularly since the current global economic crisis has convinced many in the developing nations that new and more creative efforts at global "sub-groupism" are called for.
Initially envisioned as a Third World counterweight to the Group of Eight leading industrialized countries (now expanded to the Group of 20), the more the D-8 establishes itself, the more developing nations will be inclined to apply for membership.
Yet, some member states are weary of any premature expansion that could turn it "into another ECO", in light of the ECO's rapid expansion in the early 1990s from three to 10 member states, a prime reason for its present sub-optimal performance, according to many experts. It would be better to stay as a compact trans-regional group providing a forum for strategic dialogue among some key developing nations.
It's a long road, but one that dovetails nicely with the NAM's strategic "South-to-South" trade, which has gained new attractiveness as a result of the current global recession.
If successful, the D-8 may set an example for similar sub-groups traversing the continents.
