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.
Kaveh L Afrasiabi, PhD, is the author of After Khomeini: New
Directions in Iran's Foreign Policy (Westview Press) . For his Wikipedia entry,
click here. His
latest book,
Reading In Iran Foreign Policy After September 11 (BookSurge Publishing
, October 23, 2008) is now available.
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