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Tuesday, September 03, 2013
Pakistan seeks D8 help to resolve energy crisisISLAMABAD: Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on Monday urged the member countries of the Developing-8 (D8) Organisation to evolve a comprehensive mechanism to ensure cooperation for resolving the energy crisis in the region.
Addressing the 33rd session of the commissioners of D8, Sartaj Aziz said special efforts should be made to resolve the energy crisis as it was becoming a daunting challenge. He said Pakistan was in the process of organising the first meeting of D8 Energy Forum in Islamabad. He also urged the organisation to initiate the phase of substantive cooperation by operationalising the agreements related to removing barriers in trade and business, particularly the Preferential Trade Agreement.
Highlighting economic revival as a high priority of the government, Aziz said that this was the reason that the decision to join the D8 was taken by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over 15 years ago. Sartaj Aziz suggested that the member countries could take initiatives in cooperation in capacity building, transfer of technology, transfer of capital and labour, energy and food security, Islamic banking, and halal sector development.
Later, in a meeting with D8 Secretary General Dr Seyed Ali Mohammad Mousavi, Sartaj Aziz proposed ways to fast track the implementation of trade and visa agreements. He hoped that the D8 Preferential Trade Agreement would be implemented soon. The D8 secretary general thanked Aziz for organising the commission’s meeting and appreciated Pakistan’s active role in the D8 activities. He assured support of his organisation in expediting the implementation of D8 agreements, which envisage current intra-D8 trade of $150 billion to increase to $500 billion by 2018. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk