Nigeria assumes chairmanship of D-8 Commission
Nigeria has assumed Chairmanship of the
Commission of D-8 countries for two years, as it hosts the current 28th
Session of the Commission. The D-8 Commission comprises the developing
nations of Nigeria, Egypt, Turkey, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Indonesia,
Iran, and Pakistan, and aims at promoting economic growth and
development among member-countries.
The session, which opened yesterday,
had the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Martin
Uhomoibhi, representing the country as Chairman of Commissioners at the
opening ceremony. Mr Uhomoibhi lauded the achievements of the
Commission since inception in 1997, noting that “bilateral trade
relations are on the upswing among member-states”. He noted that the
achievements would be improved upon to include other areas of
development, as contained in the D-8 Roadmap.
Uhomoibhi said that under the chair of Nigeria, issues bordering on
Preferential Trade Agreement and harmonisation of visa regimes would be
addressed, in a bid to boost the contribution of members to global
trade, from 5 per cent or $1.2 trillion to 15-20 per cent by 2018.
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