Vice President Jusuf Kalla to Attend D-8 Summit in Istanbul

Jakarta, MINA – Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla will attended the D-8 Developing Countries Summit that will be held in Istanbul Turkey on 20 October.

“The focus of the meeting is to discuss trade, industry, agriculture, energy, transportation and tourism cooperation,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir told reporters in Jakarta,Wednesday (18/10).

Arrmanatha said the D-8 summit this year themed “Expanding Opportunities through Cooperation.” The Vice President will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Retno L.P Marsudi at the 9th D-8 Summit.

“This summit at the same time to commemorate the twenty years of the founding of D-8. The summit will result in two outcomes including Istanbul Declaration, “he said.

At the D-8 summit, Arrmanatha explained, Indonesia will encourage maritime cooperation, cooperation between private sectors, and south-south cooperation.

D-8 is an organization of Muslim-majority countries. Its eight members include Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran, Egypt, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.

The establishment treaty was signed in Istanbul, Turkey, June 15, 1997 (called the Istanbul Treaty), having been preceded by a meeting of leaders. At a meeting in Bali, 13-14 May 2006, all eight member states agreed on a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) to reduce tariffs on trade between them.(LT/R04/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)