Assigned by the Head of States in the 5th D-8 Summit in Bali, May 2006, D-8 Organization is suggested to cooperate with some international organizations, the Secretary General, Dipo Alam met and discussed with the President of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Mr. Lennart Bage in IFAD Headquarters, Rome, Italy on January 23rd, 2008 on several issues of economic development that related with efforts to reduce poverty.

IFAD is an international financial institution and a United Nations specialized agency dedicated to eradicating poverty in the rural areas of developing countries where the majority of the world’s poorest people live. IFAD has 30 years experience working with the world’s poorest and hardest-to-reach rural communities. Participants in IFAD-supported agriculture and rural development programs and projects are expected to increase their productivity and incomes, and better food security.

One topic that discussed by the Secretary General and the President of IFAD was on the issue of migrant workers and their relevance to the remittances that they earned and send back to the countries, and relations to build microfinance institutions/industries in rural areas.

Recently IFAD published a document entitled “Sending Money Home, Worldwide Remittances to Developing and Transition Countries”. Since member countries of D-8 are suppliers of migrant workers in the world, the Secretary General of D-8 would like to invite the participants of IFAD in the program of D-8 to establish the Working Group on Migrant Workers, Remittances and Microfinance (WG on Remittances). The issue of remittances of migrant workers is very important for developing countries. Hundred fifty millions migrant workers worldwide sent some USD 300billion to their families in developing countries during 2006. These funds are used primarily to meet immediate family basic needs (consumption, education, health, shelters), but a significant portion are also available for savings, credit mobilization and other forms of investment.

D-8 will have the first meeting of their Working Group on Remittances in Dhaka, Bangladesh this year, and is expected will have a regular meeting every year to discuss experiences, potency, challenges, threat and opportunities of cooperation in these issues. It is expected that D-8 would propose a proposal working with IFAD, OFID, IDB, and the World Bank to establish and support the cooperation program on these issues. In addition, some issues on the agricultural development, renewable energy, and agro industry were also discussed during the meeting, including to discuss IFAD’s  Strategic Framework 2007-2010 for supporting ideas, when D-8 now is preparing a Roadmap 2008-2018 of cooperation, which also include agricultural and poverty reduction efforts in their cooperation program for next decade.

After years of expansion within the domestic market, Turkey’s companies are learning step by step how to become global actors since they have faced tough challenges from the forces of globalization, especially at the start of the new millennium, reported the Turkish’s TodaysZaman daily.

Turkish food giant Ülker Group realized the biggest acquisition by a Turkish company in history in 2007, buying luxury chocolatier Godiva for $850 million. Not only are Turkish firms becoming more active in foreign markets, but their brands are also gaining more recognition with non-Turkish customers.

State-owned news agency Anatolia summarized the most outstanding examples of these companies in a study yesterday. Including numerous sectors, from food to home appliances, these examples indicate the increasing tendency of mergers and acquisitions by Turkish companies.

Vestel, a leading home appliance and electronics manufacturer, exports 90 percent of its production to 106 countries, while 80 percent of its export revenue comes from the European Union.

The company sells roughly 20 million units abroad every year. Earning $12.5 billion from exports in the last 12 years, Vestel has been the number-one exporter in the electronics market for seven years.

Turan Erdoğan, the deputy CEO and president of Vestel’s Foreign Trade Department, says they started focusing on new markets this year, especially in India and Far Eastern countries. “We see great opportunities in these regions. We are expecting big increases in Australia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe as well,” he adds. He notes that their company accounts for 6 percent of the world’s electronic equipment production and also produces 28 percent of European electronic equipment. In addition, Vestel has an 11 percent market share in the European refrigerator market. In the realm of digital products, Vestel has a 50 percent share in Britain and 20 percent in Europe overall. Twenty-eight percent of the European television market is also under Vestel’s control.

Erdoğan notes that his company is also vying to take the leadership of the LCD and plasma markets across Europe, planning to leave China and Taiwan far behind. In 2006 the company bought Finlux and Luxor to enter the Scandinavian and North European markets. In addition to these mergers, it bought the Graetz brand, a leading electronics manufacturer widely known in Germany’s natural hinterland. All in all, Vestel’s exports revenue added up to $2.7 billion in 2007, and the company is angling to hit $2.9 in 2008.

Ülker to complete facilities in Egypt and Pakistan

The Ülker Group realized the biggest acquisition in history by a Turkish company in 2007, buying Godiva for $850 million. Atilla Kurama, the CEO of Yıldız Holding, Ülker’s parent company, said the Godiva purchase reinforced his company’s success in the chocolate market: “This acquisition also carries the importance of indicating the progress gained by Turkish companies on the way to globalization.” Ülker is planning to complete the construction of production facilities in Egypt and Pakistan in the first quarter of 2008. Upon their completion, Ülker will be operating in eight countries.

The Eczacibaşı Construction Group is another such company that represents Turkey abroad. It exports to more than 75 countries while exhibiting and selling in more than 150 stores and 2,000 points of sale. Eczacibaşı subsidiary VitrA Ireland Ltd., established in 1998 in the city Arklow, is still the only floor tiles producer in that country. It recently increased its capacity with further investments, carrying the factory’s market value to over $20 million. In 2005 the group bought Engers Keramik in Rheinland Pfalz, Germany’s central district, for ceramics and tile production. Furthermore, Eczacibaşı took over all the production and marketing activities of Villeroy&Boch, the world’s oldest and most famous ceramics producer, in March 2007. It has two factories in Germany and one in France.

Eczacibaşı is responsible for more than 50 percent of all the exports in the field of construction alone. Its market shares are 13 percent in Germany, 10 percent in Austria, 6 percent in Britain, 3 percent in the US and France, 2 percent in Italy, 8 percent in Israel and Scandinavia and 10 percent in New Zealand. The company aims to become the world’s third-biggest ceramics producer by 2010. It currently occupies the fifth rank.

Goldaş eyes Europe for expansion

Goldaş, Turkey’s largest gold and jewelry producer, currently exports to 48 countries and has determined continental and eastern Europe as primary growth areas for the next three years. CEO Sedat Yalınkaya said they were planning to upgrade in retail business by opening new stores both in the domestic and foreign markets. “In 2008, we are projecting to expand in Czech Republic, Romania, Germany and Ukraine,” he noted and added that growing in foreign markets has always been a major target for the company.

Goldaş’ share are being traded on the Frankfurt and Berlin stock exchanges in addition to the İstanbul Stock Exchange (İMKB). “Assortie” stores are the name of Goldaş’ sale points in foreign markets, and the company has 150 such stores in the world. Goldaş will increase this number to 450 by 2010. “As a group, we are planning to become involved in the construction and mining industries as well this year. We already have gold mines in Turkey, Mali and Ghana, and we are also planning to start running mines in China in 2008,” Yalınkaya said.

Mavi Jeans marks a different success story. It opened its first foreign business in the US market, the motherland of denim, and has succeeded in becoming a respected name there. Founded in 1991 Mavi has liaisons in over 50 countries with 174 Mavi shops and more than 4,000 dealers. It has big showrooms in major world cities such as İstanbul, New York, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Montreal, London, Frankfurt, Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Copenhagen, Brussels, Sydney, Paris, Toronto, Milan, Amsterdam, Zurich and Salzburg. It plans to record some $60 million in exports this year.

Arçelik is another Turkish home appliance manufacturer known worldwide; almost 75 million homes around the globe use its products. Its brand Beko leads the British air conditioner market. Beko is also number one in the Belgian and Lithuanian stove markets. In the Turkish market, Arçelik and Beko occupy the first and second places, respectively.

Beko has some 250 stores in foreign countries selling only its own products. The company plans to increase these stores to 500 within the next three years. Moreover, Arçelik also serves customers in 106 countries with brands like Blomberg, Elektra Bregenz, Arctic, Altus, Leisure, Flavel, Grundig and Arstil.

Arçelik is also tracking the Chinese market very closely. It bought Changzhou Casa-Shinco Electrical Appliances Co. Ltd for $8 million last year and changed its name to Beko Electrical Appliances Co. Ltd., thus entering the Chinese market. Its main target in exports was to earn at least half of its annual turnover from foreign sales as of 2007. Although the figures have not yet been calculated, Arçelik expects to have exceeded this target.

Tofaş, an outstanding auto manufacturer, increased its number of exported vehicles by 15 percent in 2007 over the previous year and sold 100,170 vehicles to 75 countries. It produces in cooperation with Italian Fiat, and Fiat’s Doblo was among last year’s most successful products in world markets.

D-8 Director, Amb. Kia Tabatabaee, applaused the news, calling to mind similar a recent encouraging news about The Indorama Group of Indonesia, whose remarkable expansion had extended to spun yarn investment in Turkey, PTA in Nigeria, and fertilizer in Egypt. As an emerging market specialist with plants in seven countries - Indonesia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Nigeria, Egypt, the group has said it would invest US$ 75 million during 2007-2008 towards expansion and modernication of its yarn manufacturing facility in Indonesia. Indorama also produces cement, fabrics and medical gloves with 2007 turnover and total assets estimated at US$1.6 billion and US$ 2.2 billion respectively and its products shipped to over 85 countries across the five continents (click here to read related news).

He said that Turkey is doubtlessly a very active player of D-8 organization and development such as this hopefully will encourage more similar expansion by other companies of D-8 countries to reach the global economic player status within their sectors. D-8 is very keen in supporting efforts by its member countries to intensify business expansion among D-8, through a set of agreements to ensure smooth facilitation in boosting the intra-trade. “We believe that once D-8 has put Preferential Trade Agreement, Visa Agreement, Custom Agreement, and other trade facilitations in place soon, joint investment and investment by private sectors will significantly increased within D-8 countries,” he said in his office on Wednesday.

On January 21st, 2008,  the Secretary General of D-8, Dipo Alam, met and discussed with Mr. Yoshiteru Uramoto, Deputy to Director General and Managing Director for Programme Coordination and Field Operation Division of UNIDO, in Vienna, Austria, on several issues of industrial development. This is among the programs of the Secretariat to implement the assignments mandated by D-8 Head of States in the 5th Summit in Bali, May 2006 which enact D-8 Organization to cooperate with fellow international organizations.

As D-8 is now preparing a D-8 Roadmap 2008-2018 for the next decade of cooperation plans, Secretary General discussed several issues on the future of industrial development of developing countries, particularly for developing the opportunities of small and medium industries, trade cooperation and capacity building, productivity, renewable energy, technological innovation, investment, infrastructure to support industries, including opportunity on the issue of debt-swap for industrial development. These are very relevant to the UNIDO program that recently published a futuristic program in their Forging Ahead report 2006-2007.

Among the issue that was discussed was the experience of Egypt, one of D-8 member states, that cooperates with UNIDO and the Government of Italy, to have the Debt for Development Swap and Trade Related Technical Assistance. The Government of Italy awarded a debt-swap USD 7 millions to the Government of Egypt in 2004, assisted by UNIDO, to establish the Egyptian Traceability Center for Agro-Industrial Exports (ETRACE). This program has been designated to assist Egyptian farmers, growers and pack houses along the food value chain to meet European and international food quality, safety and traceability standards, ensuring that products are safe for consumption and do not encounter barriers to trade. ETRACE provides financial and technical assistance to support agro-industrial enterprises in applying traceability systems. Upgrading their technology and management systems and in acquiring certification for their exports. Secretary General expects to invite UNIDO in the next D-8 Working Group on Industrial Cooperation in Jakarta, Indonesia, which is scheduled in May 2008. Delegates of D-8 member states could learn from Egypt delegates how the debt-swab program could be proposed and applied for industrial development. For example, also Indonesian Government has been awarded twice of 25 millions Euros a debt-swap program for education from the Government of Germany.

UNIDO is prepared to assist D-8 programs on industrial cooperation. For instance, Iranian Government has proposed D-8 cooperation in automotive industries and spare-parts. This is already scheduled as one of D-8 programs of cooperation in 2008. Some renewable energy for industry also discussed and will be proposed by D-8 to UNIDO for cooperation.

Former Indonesian President Suharto, died on Sunday. He was 86.

Suharto had been in intensive care with lung, heart and kidney failure since he was admitted to the hospital on Jan. 4. Over the past week his physicians had spoken of a recovery, but by Sunday that had changed dramatically. Dozens of doctors had been rushed to the Pertamina Hospital in the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta, after Suharto’s blood pressure fell suddenly Saturday night. Suharto had slipped out of consciousness for the first time in more than three weeks of treatment, doctors said.

He had been in and out of the hospital several times since resigning from presidency following the 1997-1998  Asian financial crisis, for heart problems, internal bleeding, and strokes that caused brain damage and impaired his speech.

In a televised address, the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, called on “the people of Indonesia to pay their last respects to one of Indonesia’s best sons … who has done very great service to his beloved nation.” The country declared a week of national mourning and the president was to oversee a state funeral Monday once Suharto’s body had been flown by a fleet of 11 Air Force planes to be placed in the family mausoleum.

As is customary in Islamic tradition, Suharto’s body was to be washed and joint prayers were held at the family home in the presence of his six children, Yudhoyono and dozens of the country’s high officials.

Statemens from all over the world are extending condolences to the Indonesian nation for losing one of its respected leader.

Prime Minister of Malaysia, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Sunday extended his heartfelt condolences to the family of Suharto and the Indonesian people on the death of the republic’s former president. Paying tribute to Suharto for having helped to strengthen ties between Indonesia and Malaysia, the prime minister said his passing was a great loss to both countries.

The former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, also extended his condolences on Sunday. According to his statement in Malaysia’s BERNAMA agency, Mohamad said that he sees Suharto as a great leader, and international statesman. “For me, it’s quite personal. I know him and I have worked with him for a very long time,” he said in a tribute to Suharto.

“I regarded him as a friend of Malaysia and as a personal friend,” he told Bernama at his residence in Seri Kembangan on Sunday. Mohamad credited Suharto for playing a very big role in the development of Indonesia which has more than 13,000 islands and a population of 200 million.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo expressed condolences for the passing of former Indonesian president Suharto on Sunday, saying he “will never be forgotten.” Arroyo hailed Suharto for his leadership in the South-East Asian region and contributions to peace building in the Philippines` troubled southern region of Mindanao. Arroyo, who was in the United Arab Emirates for an official visit, said “generations of Filipinos and South-east Asians will remember President Suharto for his key role in regional community building.”

“As one of the fathers of the ASEAN, President Suharto was among those who had the pioneering vision of establishing a more peaceful, progressive and prosperous South-east Asian region founded on respect and understanding,” she said. The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of Japan, Yasuo Fukuda, also expressed his government and people’s condolencees on Sunday on the demise of the late former president. In his statement, Fukuda praised Suharto as a good friend of Japan for his efforts to build a permanent friendship relation between Japan and Indonesia.

The late Suharto was among the leaders who initiate the D-8 Organization establishment with Turkish’s Necmettin Erbakan. Suharto was a decisive leader whose development policies had propelled Indonesia among the ranks of reputable developing countries. D-8 Secretary General, an Indonesian former high official, Dipo Alam, was saddened by the demise of Suharto. In his statement, he said that Indonesia and D-8 has lost one of its best statesman who, amid his imperfections, had been contributing alot to the development of Indonesia, and other developing countries.

Suharto’s wife of 49 years, Indonesian royal Siti Hartinah, died in 1996. The couple had three sons and three daughters.

Egypt is well aware that the challenge of pursuing economic development as well as protecting the environment cannot be fully met except through a sustainable energy production system, which largely depends on renewable energy (RE) resources. In April, the Supreme Council for Energy adopted an ambitious plan which aims at covering 20 per cent of the country’s total electricity needs using RE by 2020. Notably, 12 per cent of this will come from wind energy, which translates into 7000 mega watts (MW) of grid- connected wind farms. This plan opens the door for the private sector to play an active role in developing new and RE resources, reports the Al-Ahram Weekly of Egypt.

“The Egyptian electricity sector recently drafted a new electricity act to encourage renewable energy utilisation and private sector involvement in the process,” stated Minister of Electricity and Energy Hassan Younes during a conference on the future of RE in Egypt. The event was sponsored by the Ministry of Electricity and Energy, the Egyptian-British Chamber of Commerce (EBCC) and the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA). The new legislation is expected to be presented to parliament next winter.

Younes underlined that Egypt is in the contracting phase to implement the first solar thermal power plant of 140MW, including a solar share of 20MW. Planned to operate by 2010, the project is one of four similar ones to be implemented in India, Morocco and Mexico, and is co-financed by Global Environment Facility (GEF).

According to the minister, a national plan to foster increasing wind contribution in electricity generation has already been laid out. “The coming period will witness a number of bids to invite competitive private sector companies to supply power from renewables,” he revealed, adding that investors will be guaranteed long-term power purchase agreements to reduce financial risk. To encourage private sector participation, resource assessment, feasibility studies and technical support for potential project developers will be provided.

Studies have shown Egypt’s abundant wealth of renewable energy resources, wind and solar energy in particular. “Egypt lies in the sunbelt area which has the greatest solar concentration,” stated Amin Mubarak, professor of mechanical engineering at Cairo University and former chairman of the Industry and Energy Committee at the People’s Assembly. Mubarak added that the solar concentration in northern Egypt is estimated at 2000kwh/m2 per year, while it reaches approximately 3200kwh/m2 per year in the south. “This is actually the best place in the Middle East for solar energy,” he asserted. In fact, Egypt is the first country in the region to build a solar thermal plant in 1913 when American inventor Frank Shuman built a solar thermal plant in Maadi, Cairo, added Mubarak.

In 1986, NREA was established to act as the national umbrella under which renewable energy RE technologies for potential applications, particularly generating electricity on commercial scale, were to be promoted. At present, wind energy generation is at the core of NREA’s current and future plans. A Wind Atlas for the entire country was issued in 2005, which indicated that about 20,000MW of wind farms can be housed in the Gulf of Suez area, which has been compared to the most favourable regions in northwestern Europe.

“The Wind Atlas is considered the basis for all decisions related to wind energy planning and feasibility studies in the future,” according to Khaled Fekry of NREA. Consequently, a number of pilot wind farms have been operational in Zaafarana on the Red Sea, propelling Egypt’s renewables from limited experimental projects to large-scale, grid- connected wind farms. A series of large-scale wind energy projects were constructed with a total capacity of 230MW and connected to the national grid. Some 80MW are under implementation and will be operational in early 2008, while 240MW are still being contracted.

“It is planned to reach 850MW by 2010,” stated Mubarak, noting that Egypt has the competitive advantage to be the hub for promoting wind power in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Moreover, Egypt also enjoys an excellent wind regime, particularly in the Gulf of Suez area where wind speed has been estimated at 10.8m/ second. “This is twice as much as that in Holland,” pointed out Mubarak. Another site of great potential is south of Zaafarana at Gabal Al-Zayat, where an area of 700 square kilometres has been earmarked by NREA to house wind energy projects, mostly planned to be funded by private investments.

Fortunately, many components of the wind farm have to be manufactured locally because they are difficult to import. “Wind farm components are very bulky; the tower is some 50m high and the blades are massive,” explained Mubarak.

On the solar energy front, Kuraymat — situated 92km south of Cairo — was selected to soon begin harvesting some 140MW. “The location is characterised with high solar radiation,” revealed Magdi Nasrallah, professor of RE at the American University in Cairo. “Moreover, cooling water is available all year long because of the approximation of the site to the River Nile.” According to Nasrallah, solar energy applications in Egypt mainly fall into three categories, namely domestic water heating found in hospitals, tourist villages and houses; industrial process heating as in food, textile and chemical industries; and solar electricity generation used in the new solar thermal station soon to be built at Kuraymat.

While the country’s RE potential is very high, there are many factors which negatively affect the ability to utilise this potential to its fullest. Mubarak believes long-term and heavy subsidy of oil products is a main factor for not developing RE resources at a faster and more efficient pace. “Why generate electricity using renewable energy if I can get oil and gas at very cheap prices,” he noted.

In the meantime, there are no feed-in laws which encourage the private sector to venture into building wind farms or solar thermal stations. “It is about time that we move from subsidising the final product into subsidising the technology,” asserted Mubarak, adding that when Germany followed this path, the prices of RE became less and less expensive.

Notably, this month Italy and Germany laid the foundation for the first direct current cable to export electricity from Tunisia via Cecilia. “Tunisia will sell electricity to Italy and Germany in exchange of machinery,” revealed RE expert Hani El-Nokrashy. “Having excellent wind potentials in the Gulf of Suez region, can we dream of connecting the south and north of the Mediterranean through a gigantic electric grid as Tunisia did?”

D-8 Organization supports efforts to address the global energy crisis caused particularly by the unstable oil price. D-8 has reaffirmed its commitment to enhance cooperation in the field of energy to develop alternative and renewable energy resources, among others bio-fuel, biomass, hydro, solar, wind and the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in the Bali Declaration in summer 2006. Egypt will host the meeting of the D-8 Working Group on Energy to discuss energy issues this year, including renewable energy.

World Bank Vice-president Praful C Patel said the results of the Bangladesh caretaker government’s performance over the past year are mixed, with some concerns matched by major achievements in anti-corruption and institutional reforms, the dailystar of Bangladesh reports. In an interview with newspaper, he also said Bangladesh is still on course to become a middle-income country by 2016 despite multiple floods, Cyclone Sidr, and the various economic shocks from the anti-corruption drive and wide-ranging institutional reforms.

However, he said a number of constraints have held back the government’s performance, such as a lack of a clear constitutional mandate making the government rather ‘unwilling’ to take tough decisions, uncertainty over the next year’s performance, and a capacity constraint caused by having only ten advisers.

But, he said the reforms will have long term positive impacts and those ‘have to be done’ to catch up with the fast moving world and the region, adding that the Bangladeshi people and the country’s economy are resilient enough to recover from the negative shocks.

He said the caretaker government’s economic performance and anti-corruption success should not be taken lightly, given the fact that those were carried out concurrently with the change of government and external economic shocks.

Patel said the government administrative processes have slowed down because of the capacity restraint that has prevented the bureaucracy from deciding and implementing simple projects.

“We’re very concerned about the slow down,” he said adding that uncertainty looms as the government’s reform plans might go awry in the second half of the next year when election preparations will be in full swing.

The WB VP said, “Although the election roadmap is on course, I am a realist, and to protect the development agenda, prudent development leaders and partners cannot take anything for granted.”

“From experiences elsewhere in the world, we do not want to be caught off-guard. So we have to think of alternative scenarios, such as thinking about what we will do if the elections are delayed,” he said adding that they expect the people of the country will not settle for anything less than fulfilment of the promises of the ‘full roadmap’ to a free, fair and credible election.

Patel also said the anti-corruption drive could have been handled better by focusing on ‘big, uncomplicated’ cases with solid evidence allowing quick prosecution, rather than spreading a wide net. The drive was not as equitable and fair as it could have been, because it did not adequately differentiate between big and small corruptionists, he added.

The VP of World Bank said it is also important to reinstate full political democratic rights to ensure that the people can voice their opinions.

He said the best case scenario will be a new political government installed by the end of 2008 with the military back in their barracks, while all the institutional reforms remain in place.

Patel also said investments in infrastructure, human development, water-resources management, and improvement in the business environment are more important focal points to allow Bangladesh to achieve 8 to 10 percent GDP growth and become a middle-income country by 2016.

Although the WB estimates expect GDP growth to fall below 6 percent, Patel said the floods and a cyclone are not enough to take Bangladesh off the course especially if the country has become adept at dealing with those.

He said the government has become better at dealing with natural disasters, while the donors and the government now have a better response system too, and on top of that is the enduring resilience of the people of Bangladesh.

The WB expects the predicted one percent drop in GDP growth to be a ‘one time phenomenon’, because according to Patel, NGOs and the people have crafted a very unique platform that has set the country up for a much more sustainable growth pattern.

This is evident in the economy’s ability to still produce a 5 to 6 percent growth despite five key shocks this year, which were as identified by the WB, rising oil prices, recurrent floods, Cyclone Sidr, government’s institutional reforms, and soaring commodity prices, especially of food.

Patel stressed Bangladesh’s need for immediately mainstreaming the issue of climate change into the development agenda, a move coined ‘Development Plus’ by him. “There needs to be a long run strategy because the natural disasters will cyclically occur more and more,” he added.

He said the suggested move is imperative as climate change will have a much bigger effect here because of increased frequency of natural disasters in a densely populated country with high poverty rates.

The Word Bank VP said now would be a good time to appeal to the international community to assist in improving Bangladesh’s protection from the effects of climate change and natural disasters, in the immediate aftermath of Sidr.

D-8 Secretary General, Dipo Alam, cherished the success of Bangladesh’ anti-corruption and institutional reforms, while underlining that D-8 Organization is very keen to support all efforts of its member states to fight corruption, and to help creating a conducive business environment and boost intra-trade relation among the member. The secretariat right now is preparing a Roadmap for Dynamic Cooperation 2008-2018, with a supplement of “Monitoring and Evaluation of Doing Business in D-8 Countries” to serve the purpose of monitoring and evaluation of bureaucratic service to trade, business, investment and industries.

Iran’s ambassador to Islamabad has termed trade relations between Iran and Pakistan in recent years as good and hoped for further growth.

Mashallah Shokri, Iran’s envoy to Pakistan, in his meeting with Asif Shah, Pakistan’s deputy minister of commerce, emphasized the need for the establishment of a joint trade committee to work toward eliminating obstacles to further growth in bilateral trade, IRNA reported.

The insufficient level of banking cooperation, the absence of a joint trade committee, lack of active participation by the private sectors of the two countries, and inadequate information on each other’s potentialities are among the obstacles in the path of further expansion of bilateral trade, Shokri said. Infrastructural constraints like unsuitable roads, the poor quality of the railroad linking the two countries and the inadequate number of flights between the two capitals were among the obstacles in the path of further expansion of bilateral trade relations, he added.

Referring to Iran’s considerable capabilities in technical and engineering fields, he expressed Iran’s willingness to export these services to Pakistan. During the meeting, Asif Shah referred to the slight reduction in the volume of trade between the two countries in the past two years and pointed to some of the problems facing Pakistani exporters such as Iran’s decision to increase import tariffs on some Pakistani goods and delays in clearing its export items by Iran’s customs authorities.

The two sides expressed hope that all obstacles would soon be eliminated, allowing for unimpeded expansion of bilateral trade.

D-8 Organization expressed hope that the increasing bilateral trade of both countries can set as agenda and targets withing the D-8 framework of cooperation. Pakistan will be hosting the 9th HLTO meeting to complete the RoO talks for PTA ratification this year.

The Federal Government has planned to establish no fewer than 22 industrial parks across the country as part of measures to put more life into the economy, especially the stifling industrial sector. Minister of Commerce and Industry Charles Ugwuh, who disclosed this to Business Day in Lagos , said the measure was in line with President Musa Yar’Adua’s vision of putting Nigeria among the 20 largest economy of the world by 2020.

They would differently be known as industrial parks, industrial clusters, free trade zones, enterprise zones and incubators. “These are the five planks that the government intends to work upon. And this comes from the appreciation that Nigeria, a large country by all standards is currently facing a difficult operating environment with supportive facilities for industrial growth lacking,” he said. This according to Ugwuh, a former president of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), is to be accomplished through public-private partnership (PPP) with the government playing the role of a facilitator and creating the enabling environment.

The parks to be sited identified deserted areas around the country would see to the establishment of cottage and big industries specializing in different products and services within the same zone so that rather competing with themselves, they would be complimenting one another. The President has made clear that by 2020, Nigeria should be listed among the 20 largest economies of the world and this has been well accepted. The problem we have is how to get there. How do we do it in such a way that every buys into it and participates?

The minister said although the country’s earnings has gone up substantially in the last few years with rising international oil pricing, yet government has competing needs for the resources which makes it imperative for the private sector to fully participate in growing the economy. “Government is attempting to rely on the private sector and therefore the industrial park concept is line with the idea of giving an opportunity to the private sector to exercise their right in this new economic development. We believe that with this, the economy in ten years to come would have fully become private sector driven,” he said.

He explained that the government would be in the position to encourage private investors willing to take advantage of the industrial parks by granting waivers, tax holidays and other incentives in respect of machinery and equipment required for their operations.

D-8 Organization Director, Amb. Kia Tabatabaee, welcomed the news as very encouraging, and therefore should be supported. Tabatabaee said that the plan is a precise design to turn the oil revenues into productive investment that will lead for more job creation and increasing intra-trade among D-8 countries.

The Turkish Finance Minister, Kemal Unakitan, said that Turkey expects her investment in Egypt, especially in Cairo and Alexandria, to increase, jumping from the current figure of approximately $500 million to $2 billion within two years, reported the Turkish TodaysZaman newspaper.

Accompanying President Abdullah Gül and 200 Turkish businessmen to Cairo, Unakitan made a speech at the Turkish-Egyptian Business Forum last week. He underlined the importance of the visit and said they consider Egypt a strategic partner with its population of 80 million and mostly integrated free market economy. Unakitan said the trade volume between the two countries was around $700 million in 2005. But he said the trade volume had increased to $1.6 billion in 2007 and added that their aim was to further increase trade volume to $5 billion in the middle term. Unakitan said transportation channels between the two countries have to be developed in order to achieve the business goals and that Turkish Airlines should launch direct flights to Egypt’s second largest city, Alexandria, as soon as possible.

Boosting Trade in Every Sector

In the spirit of mutual benefit of trade, Turkish fresh fruit producers have been heading to Egypt as the Egyptian government has opened its agricultural land of 250,000 acres to investors in return for a low long-term lease since December 2007.

Aegean Exporters’ Association Executive Board Chairman Mustafa Türkmenoglu, who wants to become a global actor by increasing competitive power in the citrus sector, plans to produce citrus crops and fresh grapes on an area spanning 20,000 acres in Cairo and Alexandria. His company aims to export citrus fruit to Russia, Ukraine and European Union countries.

Türkmenoglu has decided to invest in Egypt to protect overseas markets.  “We should protect both our markets and our company by becoming a global actor. If everything was great in our country, we would have nothing to do in Egypt. Today, the world’s fresh fruit market forces us to be a supplier,” Türkmenoglu said, adding, “our vision cannot be limited to being a supplier. We will compete by forming bases and logistic centers in certain places around the world,” as quoted by the Turkish Referans newspaper.

Turkish fresh fruit and vegetable exporters try different methods to survive, said Türkmenoglu. Some companies that don’t want to lose the Russian and Ukrainian markets, export by supplying products from Egypt, Morocco, Syria and the Netherlands, he added. “We have applied to the Egyptian government for 20,000 acres of land. The leasing cost varies according to the location of the land and its infrastructure. For instance, 5,000 acres of land may cost up to $500,000.” The land Türkmenoglu prefers is located 180 kilometers south of Alexandria. “The negotiations will end in January. After that, we will invest for four to five years. With an investment of 20 million euros, we plan to produce 50,000 tons of citrus and early-riser fresh grapes,” he said.

Turkey and Egypt are two of the D-8 member countries that have ratified the strategic trade agreement. Both countries has also signed the Preferential Trade Agreement in the 5th Summit of D-8 in Bali, Indonesia, in May 2006. D-8 Secretary General, Dipo Alam, said that the cooperation between these countries should kept increased as an economic target to be achieved within D-8 framework. In this regards, the visit of Turkish president, Abdullah Gül, to Egypt is expected to strengthen the investment level of the two countries.

The Bangladeshi advisory committee on economic affairs yesterday approved a proposal for construction of a subway in Dhaka by a private sector firm with an estimated cost of Tk 6,200 crore, reported the daily star of Bangladesh. The underground rail system will be constructed on Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis under the supervision of Bangladesh Railway, meeting sources said.

“We have approved the proposal to include in the PICOM (Private Infrastructure Committee) list and now the remaining processes will be done to implement the project,” Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam, who chaired the meeting, said.

The government will now float fresh international tender inviting proposals and at the same time the Planning Commission will prepare a detailed study on the project, sources said. Once built, the subway will save Tk 5,319 crore a year through saving human working hours and stopping wastage of imported fuel due to traffic congestions, says the proposal made by the Board of Investment (BoI) .

While the experts say that it requires for any mega city to have roads covering at least 25-30 percent of its area for easy traffic movement, the roads of Dhaka cover only 5-6 percent.According to the BoI proposal, the 52-kilometre subway would have six routes with 50 stations connecting almost 80 percent of the city area. The underground rail system will have the capacity to transport on average 40 lakh passengers a month.

The first route would start from Gabtoli and end at Sayedabad via Mohakhali and it would be connected with the second route, Uttara to Mohakhali, at the Mohakhali bus terminal. The third route, Pallabi to IDB Bhaban, will be connected with the first route as well.

The fourth route will be from Shyamoli to Elephant Road, which will cover Shyamoli, Adabor, Mohammadpur, Dhanmondi, Jigatola, Rayerbazar and Hazaribagh areas. It will be connected with the first route at Shyamoli and Elephant Road forming the first inner loop.

Starting from Sayedabad, the fifth route will end at Tejgaon Satrasta via Malibagh, Moghbazar and Kamalapur Rail Station. It will also be connected with the first route and it will form the second loop almost as long as the first loop in the network. Completing the entire network, the sixth route from Sayedabad to Gulistan will connect all the entry points of the mega city.

The initiative to construct the subway in Dhaka was taken during the BNP-Jamaat government and a private company was primarily selected for the project. After assuming power, the present caretaker government halted the work of the project and in February last year, it said that the next political government would complete the work.

Later in November that year, the government, however, shifted from its decision and made a fresh move about the project considering it as a priority work to ease traffic congestion of the capital.