Promoting Pakistan: PM Ashraf to open D-8 trade exhibition today

Senior officials will meet to discuss preparations for summit as well.

ISLAMABAD:

To kick off the series of events which will culminate in the Developing Eight (D-8) Summit on November 22, Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf will inaugurate a four-day trade exhibition on Monday (today).

The event, which aims to project Pakistan as a business destination, will be attended by delegates and corporate leaders from Iran, Bangladesh, Egypt, Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia and Nigeria. It will be followed by the D-8 Business Forum, scheduled to open on Tuesday.

“These business activities will provide a solid platform at which Pakistan’s public and private sectors will showcase wide possibilities in joint ventures and investment,” said Pakistan Trade Development Authority secretary Abdul Kabir Kazi while briefing the media about the event.

The Business Forum will focus on infrastructure development, value-addition in the textile sector, opportunities of joint ventures in alternate energy, engineering and agro-based industries, he said. Member countries, according to him, envisage increasing intra-D-8 trade to over $500 billion by 2018 and showcasing their products in the exhibition is a step to achieve that milestone.

Following the event’s inauguration by the premier, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar will brief the press on the D-8 Summit and its objectives.

Meanwhile, senior executive officials from the D-8 countries will also meet in Islamabad today to discuss matters pertain to preparations for summit, officials told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 19^th, 2012.