26 Apr 2006 12:02

The 5th Summit of Developing 8 (D-8), 9-13 May 2006, Bali – Indonesia

No. 28/PR/IV/2006. The 5th Developing Eight (D-8) Summit will be convened in Bali and will be preceded by  meeting of D-8 Commissioner on 9-10 May 2006 and D-8 Council of Minister on 11 May 2006. The Summit will also feature other related events to be held concurrently, namely: the Business Forum on 11 May 2006, and the D-8 Trade Fair from 9 to 13 May 2006.

The Summit will be attended by Heads of State/Government and delegates from D-8 member countries namely the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Arab Republic of Egypt, Republic of Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Malaysia, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and Republic of Turkey. With the theme of “Enhancing D-8 Intra Trade”, the Summit will provide leaders with the opportunity to deliberate on ways and means to strengthen D-8 cooperation, particularly the D-8 intra trade and economic cooperation as well as addressing effectively the basic problems of poverty and development.

The Summit will adopt the Bali Declaration that reflects shared concerns of D-8 Heads of State/Government on global issues and renewed commitment to continue working together to enhance D-8 cooperation.

The D-8 Business Forum will provide an excellent opportunity for the D-8 Chambers of Commerce and Industry to discuss and exchange of views on issues related to trade, investment, and other areas of cooperation. While the trade fair will exhibit a vast range of leading products from D-8 countries, where D-8 business communities could interact among themselves and conduct business transactions.

During the Summit, two D-8 Cooperation Agreements will be signed, namely: a) the Preferential Trade Agreement that has been concluded and adopted in the Sixth meeting of High Level Trade Officials conducted recently in Bali; and b) the Administrative Assistance in Customs Matters. The signing of the two agreements will be a milestone to enhance D-8 intra-trade.

During the Summit, Iran as the current chair of D-8, will hand over its Chairmanship of D-8 to Indonesia as the next Chair for the period of 2006-2007. As the next D-8 Chair, Indonesia will host a number of programme activities to enhance D-8 cooperation. For the year of 2006, Indonesia plan to organize several D-8 meetings, among others:

a.	The Third meeting of the Working Group on Energy in Yogyakarta, on the first week of July 2006.
b.	Three weeks Capacity Building Programme in Microfinance, on the first week of August 2006.
c.	The Commission Meeting some time after the Summit