Islamic D-8 nations vow solidarity in facing rich states

Islamic D-8 nations vow solidarity in facing rich states

CAIRO (AFP): The leaders of eight Muslim developing nations
with a combined population of 800 million vowed here Sunday to
take up the challenges of globalization and join forces to face
the developed states of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Two of those leaders, host Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikha Hasina Wajed, called for a
fair distribution of the wealth generated by globalization and
trade development at the D-8 summit.

"A truly globalized world has to be based on give and take and
a better understanding of the mutuality of interests" between
developed countries and developing ones, said the outgoing
president of the grouping, Sheikha Hasina.

"We want a win-win outcome of the fruits of globalization",
she said at the Cairo gathering.

Egypt's Economy Minister Yousef Boutros Ghali meanwhile said
the D-8 (D for development) had decided to "negotiate as a bloc
with developed countries during the next meeting of World Trade
Organization economy ministers."

The meeting is due to take place in Qatar in November.

Boutros Ghali told reporters on the sidelines of the summit
that the D-8 economy ministers would meet before the WTO
gathering to forge a common position.

Spanning Africa, Asia and Europe, the group comprises Egypt,
Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and
Turkey.

Mubarak, whose country is hosting the summit of the group
created in 1997, warned that globalization could marginalize
developing countries, and called on the international community
to address that issue.

He urged D-8 countries to "focus on three challenges: poverty,
trade and financial problems ... in an attempt to strike a new
balance in the world order and include developing countries in
it".

Mubarak later announced the summit's Cairo Declaration which
pledged to double the volume of trade among the eight over the
next five years from 3.5 percent of their total foreign trade to
seven percent.

The Egyptian president said the leaders discussed the effects
of globalization on their economies and said the declaration
addressed "ways to face up to the economic challenges that
confront us."

To achieve that goal, the eight countries decided to make a
study, financed by the Saudi-based Islamic Development Bank, of
ways to establish an international trade and marketing company
based in Cairo, Mubarak said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi, speaking at the
opening of the one-day summit, accused Israel of hampering
economic development in the Middle East region.

"Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians has caused many
deaths and injuries, but also generated very difficult economic
conditions", he said.

"Insecurity in the Middle East has a very negative impact on
our economies," the Iranian minister added.

Also attending the gathering were Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo
of Nigeria, Abdurrahman Wahid of Indonesia and Ahmet Necdet Sezer
of Turkey as well as Pakistani military leader Pervez Musharraf.

Malaysia was represented by its deputy prime minister,
Abdullah bin Ahmad Badawi.

All participants spoke at the opening of the summit to promote
trade, economic and technological cooperation and denounced the
negative effects of globalization on their economies.