D-8 Secretary General, Dipo Alam (left) met with Nigerian Vice President, H.E Goodluck Jonathan (right), on a official visit to Abuja, Nigeria, on 25-26 January 2010 as a part of series of his working visit to relevant D-8 Member countries to coordinate the preparation for the Abuja Head of States meeting 2010.

D-8 Secretary General, Dipo Alam, was on a official visit to Abuja, Nigeria, on 25-26 January 2010 as a part of series of his working visit to relevant D-8 Member countries to coordinate the preparation for the Abuja Head of States meeting 2010 as well as the farewell to the post which he will soon be entrusted to another diplomat as his successor. Dipo Alam has been recently appointed by the President of Indonesia as Cabinet Secretary Minister of the Republic of Indonesia, and shall return to Indonesia to embark on his new post and serve the country.

Members of D-8, an organisation for cooperation among eight developing countries of the world, will establish a joint investment fund that will boost trade and commerce among member countries, Dipo Alam, said.

Alam, who met Monday in Abuja with several minister of the Nigerian cabinet, such as the minister of Science and Technology, Alhassan Bako Zaku, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Jibril Maigari, and Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Humphrey Aba, said the group is working on visa simplification agreement which will allow free access to member states which include Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.  “One of the things we want to establish soon is the joint fund. The grant is meant for private sector to prepare feasibility study,” he said.

“Iran has pledged its readiness to contribute 15 million euros to the fund, and we hope that other member countries would follow that initiative,” said Alam. He said that the grant would further be made available to investors, who are expected to return the grant after executing the project. The focus of the group is on development of small and medium scale enterprises.

The D-8 chief stated that four countries, Pakistan, Malaysia, Turkey and Iran have ratified the visa simplification agreement and there are hopes that before the end of July, Nigeria would have signed on to the agreement so that Nigerians can travel with ease to these countries to transact business. This list would soon be including Indonesia, he said.

Alam commended the robust economic activities going on Nigeria, saying that Nigeria is the leading economy among the D-8, having overtaken Malaysia.

“According to World Bank report of 2009 for D-8, Nigeria is number 1 followed by Malaysia. Nigeria is a promising destination for investment and we expect there is benefit for D-8 and also for Nigeria when Nigeria chairs the group for next two years,” he said.

Boosting intra-trade volume through Economic cooperation measures

He revealed that the D-8 countries now have three per cent of the total world trade and their target is to increase it from three to 15 per cent in the next 10 years.

The organisation was established with the objective of enhancing cooperation in the economic sector through sharing of expertise in order to improve the position of member countries in the global economy. The D-8 member states have a population of 930 million people, who are predominantly Muslims.

Zaku said no nation can survive economically without cooperation. “Some of the countries have what others do not have. When we come together, we move forward,” he affirmed.

Alam also met with the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, in which discussion transpired in the plan to hold D-8 Central Bank Governors Meeting which shall elaborate how to improve good governance in banking sector, optimum fiscal stimulus in financial turmoil phase, joint investment fund and Islamic Finance.

Ready to Host D-8 Summit and  Committed to be D-8 Chairman 2010-2012

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Federal Government has also pledged its commitment towards the successful hosting of the Developing Eight Nations (D-8) Summit in Abuja in July 2010. Nigerian Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan gave the assurance on Monday to Alam, who paid him a courtesy call at the State House, Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Jonathan, who expressed satisfaction at the line-up of programmes and activities for the Summit as disclosed by Alam, however assured that the nation’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs will work out the details for the successful hosting of the Summit. The Vice-President particularly expressed delight in the involvement of the private sector in the programme, noting that the sector is key to driving the economy.

Earlier, Alam said that he was in Nigeria to explain the progress made so far by the D-8 and to discuss the Summit to be hosted in Abuja in July and as well as inform Jonathan about his recent appointment as Cabinet Secretary in his country, Indonesia. In the occassion, Alam listed some of the expectations of the D-8 Summit to include Investment Cooperation Declarations, Joint Investment Projects among member nations, signing of a memorandum of understanding and signing of projects, among member nations.

On Sunday evening, the Indonesian Embassy in Nigeria also held a dinner reception which was attended by high commissioner of D-8 countries, such of Nik Mustafa Kamal bin Nik Ahmad (Malaysia), Khosrow Rezazadeh (Iran), Major-Gen. (rtd.) Asif Duraiz Akhtar (Pakistan), Mustafa Aykut Sezgin (Turkey), as well as CEOs of various Indonesian companies that invested in Nigerian market such as Indofood (represented by Adhi Sunarto) and Indorama (represented by General Manager, Veeramani).

To view photos taken during the visit, please click here to view the gallery.

D-8 Secretary General, Dipo Alam, officially met with the President of Republic of Turkey, Abdullah Gül, in Presidential Palace of Cankaya, Ankara, to bid farewell to the host country that initiated the birth of the D-8 Organization in 1997

Today, the D-8 Secretary General, Dipo Alam, officially met with the President of Republic of Turkey in Presidential Palace of Cankaya, Ankara, to bid farewell to the host country that initiated the birth of the D-8 Organization in 1997. Alam bid his farewell, but not goodbye, to Turkey and D-8 Organization as he embarks a new responsibility as the new Cabinet Secretary Minister of the Republic of Indonesia.

Dipo Alam had been unanimously elected by 8 Head of States for a four-year term (2009-2012) to serve as the Secretary General of D-8 during the 6th D-8 Head of States Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in July 2008. Alam assumed his post as Secretary General in early 2007, when he was assigned for the transitional period of two years. He was considered successful in leading and making noticeable progresses by bringing D-8 Organization into a higher ground among international organisations.

Alam reported his new appointment in the Indonesian Cabinet to the President of Turkey, Abdullah Gül, and remarked it as a very noble task and trust handed by the President of Indonesia to serve for his country. In the meeting, Alam reiterated that although he will soon release his post as the Secretary General of D-8, he is a deep believer of the importance of this organization for the member countries, including Indonesia and Turkey, and shall be monitoring the development and always be helpful whenever his assistance and contribution would be needed by D-8.

Alam reiterated that he shall be monitoring the development and always be helpful whenever his assistance and contribution would be needed by D-8.

Besides to meet with Turkey as the initiating country, Alam also scheduled to meet and report this development to Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak, as the current Chairman of D-8 (2008-2010), as well as head of state and relevant ministries of Nigeria as the candidate of new Chairman of D-8 for the periode of 2010-2012.

In the meeting today, Alam was also met by Foreign Affairs Minister of Turkey, Prof. Ahmet Davutoğlu, to talk about the new development and discuss ways to boost trade and cooperation between Indonesia and Turkey, both in the bilateral and multi-lateral framework in the D-8 Organization. Alam also mentioned sets of progress that have been achieved by the organization since 2006, such as the ratification of D-8 Visa Simplification Agreement (D-8 VSA).

“With the D-8 VSA facilitation, we are confident that intra-trade among D-8 could reach 10-15% from total D-8 trade with the world in 10 upcoming years,” Alam said. Recently the D-8 internal volume of trade reached US$78billion, or merely 6% of the total D-8 trade to the world. The two member states with significant GDPs (Indonesian GDP at US$530billion, and Turkish GDP at US$730billion) has been included in the G-20 group, as well as in the OIC as member countries. Both countries are expected to play major role in accelerating economic cooperation among D-8 member countries. Indonesian trade volume to D-8 countries recently is recorded at US$21billion, and it is expected that this amount can be increased in the future, especially with the investment growth to Indonesia.

Alam also talked about the intra-trade volume of D-8 which was amounted to US$35billion (or merely 3% from total trade to the world), and had increased to US$78billion (6% from total trade to the world). With more focus being introduced in the Roadmap 2008-2018 and the sound institutional supports and agreements in D-8 Action Plan, Alam said that he is optimist that the target can be reached to increase the intra-trade to 10-15% (of the total trade to the world).

In the meeting with President Gül, Dipo Alam, who was accompanied by the Indonesian Ambassador to Turkey, Awang Bahrin, extended the very best regards from the Indonesian President, SBY and several souvenirs from the Indonesian first lady, Mrs. Ani Yudhoyono, to the Turkish first lady, Mrs. Hayrünnisa Gül.

The D-8 Federation of Chambers of Commerce recently published the list of Iranian top 100 companies on the basis of sales, as well as presentation of Foreign Investment in Housing Sector of Iran. Along the publication, also disseminated the Iranian Focal points in the field of construction, for contact purposes among the member countries. These publication can be found in the public download are of this website (click here), under the Private sector information directory.

Housing and construction are two of Iran most promising sectors in the country economy outlook

Iran’s planned and underway economic projects in 2009 stood at $313 billion showing $27 billion over 2008, Middle East Business Intelligence (MEED) reported.

While the global crisis greatly overshadowed the Persian Gulf’s Arab states in 2009, Iran’s planned and underway economic projects witnessed a 9.5 percent growth, MEED reported.

According to the report, the value of the projects stood at $286 billion early 2009, but the figure increased to $313 billion by the end of the year.

Among the 6 Arabian countries of the southern part of Persian Gulf, only Bahrain and Qatar have growth in their projects and the rest ones witnessed remarkable decreases in the value of their economic projects.

The value of planned and underway projects in the United Arab Emirates in 2009 witnessed 21 percent fall standing at $967 billion.

In Saudi Arabia, the projects reached $616 billion showing 0.3 percent fall.

In Kuwait and Oman the projects decreased 11 percent and 2 percent standing at $268 billion and $104 billion, respectively.

The value of economic projects in Bahrain and Qatar increased 5 percent and 3 percent in 2009 standing at $67 billion and $229 billion, respectively.

Total value of the projects in the 6 mentioned countries decreased from $2,548 billion early 2009 to $2257 billion late 2009 showing 11 percent fall.

The D-8 Federation of Chambers of Commerce recently published the list of Iranian top 100 companies on the basis of sales, as well as presentation of Foreign Investment in Housing Sector of Iran. Along the publication, also disseminated the Iranian Focal points in the field of construction, for contact purposes among the member countries. These publication can be found in the public download are of this website (click here), under the Private sector information directory.

D-8 Secretary General, Dipo Alam (left) is officially appointed by the President of the Republic of Indonesia, H.E Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (right) as the Cabinet Secretary Minister of the Government of Indonesia

Yesterday, 6 January 2010, D-8 Secretary General, Dipo Alam, has been officially appointed by the President of the Republic of Indonesia, H.E Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as the Cabinet Secretary Minister of the Government of Indonesia (GoI). The Indonesian Presidential Office announced on Tuesday (5/1) to install a Cabinet Secretary and second batch of vice ministers on Wednesday.

Previously before his tenure as the D-8 Secretary General, Dipo Alam had several positions at the Government of Indonesia, such as in Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) as a senior researcher, and also, at the National Development Planning Agency (BAPPENAS) as Bureau Chiefs of Industry, Trade, Mining, Technology, Marine, Aeronautics and Environment. His last position before his appointment as Secretary General of D-8 was Deputy Minister of Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs for eight years. In this position he had experiences led international meetings, multilaterally and bilaterally, in several Indonesian join commissions with various countries, also meetings with the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, IMF, and other UN organizations.

Through a formal communication sent yesterday to all member states’ Foreign Ministries and Commissioner, Alam is confident that the new appointment and arrangement will be a gratifying experience for D-8 as well, since this strategic position shall enable him to accelerate GoI decision and policies that related to the cooperation within D-8 Organization as a whole.

The Indonesian Presidential Office announced on Tuesday (5/1) to install a Cabinet Secretary and second batch of vice ministers on Wednesday.

Dipo Alam had been unanimously elected by 8 Head of States for a four-year term (2009-2012) to serve as the Secretary General of D-8 during the 6th D-8 Head of States Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in July 2008. Alam assumed his post as Secretary General in early 2007, when he was assigned for the transitional period of two years. He is considered successful in leading and making noticeable progresses by bringing D-8 Organization into a higher ground among international organisations.

His first step in the office was promoting a more wider and stronger institutional development, by preparing and having the Statutory Document of the Permanent Secretariat. He have also vitalised the D-8 public relations by establishing an effective and efficient website for wider public audience. Under his leadership, D-8 also seek to and gradually expanded its working network with other international organizations, private sectors, and NGOs. Through extensive informational campaign on D-8 Organization, the grouping is now becoming more familiar in the public and global scale.

Photos: Media Indonesia/the Jakarta Post

The chairman of Nigeria's Communications Commission (NCC) Earnest Ndukwe,

The chairman of Nigeria’s telecommunications regulatory authority Nigeria’s Communications Commission (NCC), Earnest Ndukwe, has called for focus on broadband internet connectivity by emerging markets as a means of forging ahead in global competitiveness.

“Most emerging markets will continue to lag behind in the global competitiveness unless broadband internet connectivity is given a priority attention in the scheme of things including ICT equipment and infrastructure”, Ndukwe told reporters in Lagos.

The NCC boss added that emerging markets including Nigeria could make use of the broadband initiative to fast-track developments in various sectors of her economy and consequently become global players in their quest for making giant economic strides in 2020.

Ndukwe said the idea also formed part of a paper presented by his commission to a capacity building conference on ICT Investments in emerging economies organized by the Commonwealth Telecommunication Organizations, CTO in London recently.

He disclosed that while many questions on what type of regulation can promote investment, consistency and predictability were raised during the Panel discussion that attracted heated debate on how best to build robust ICT infrastructures in the emerging markets, his commission had averred that government has intervened to ensure lower prices and fairer access to national and international fibre infrastructure, adding that NCC has actually taken a role in getting this infrastructure built.

“Broadband infrastructure and connectivity provide an opportunity not only for economic surge, but also present long-term benefits that transverse almost every aspect of Nigeria and rest of the African sub-region. There is no better time to embrace this technology as an essential factor for the development of African societies” he said.

Reports have seen broadband Internet access as becoming an essential part of everyday life, and part of how people communicate, book their holidays, search for work, find out news, purchase goods and educate their children.

Studies have also revealed that broadband in the rest of the world will grow from 16 million to 48 million lines in the same period, so the world will add 273 million lines to reach 683 million in total.

News source: IT News Africa.

Bangladesh Central Bank Governor, Atiur Rahman, said Bangladesh’s economy is on track to achieve 6% growth in the 2009-10 fiscal year to June despite the global downturn

Bangladesh’s economy is on track to achieve six percent growth in the 2009-10 fiscal year to June despite the global downturn, central bank governor Atiur Rahman said on Thursday.

His projection is a touch more optimistic than forecasts by the Asian Development Bank and other finance agencies for Bangladesh’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth to slow to just over five percent. Atiur told reporters a strong inflow of remittances from 6 million expatriate workers and steady income from export of readymade garments helped to absorb the shocks.

“Despite perceived uncertainties during the year (2009) we hope things will be better during rest of the current fiscal year and we will achieve the expected growth,” Atiur said. He also cited good crops and the priority the government added to farming as well as small and medium industries but said the country had not made an anticipated breakthrough in attracting investment. Hopes for investment brightened after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took office in January 2009 following a democratic election that ended two years of rule by a military-backed interim government. But in July-October, net foreign direct investment dropped to $207 million from $402 million in the same period of last year.

Bangladesh Finance Minister, A.M.A Munith also said that Bangladesh is “almost out of the impact of the global economic recession” with every economic index looking positive. “In the outgoing year, our exports, imports of capital machineries were on the rise, foreign exchange reserves and remittance were also satisfactory. In fact, we are almost out of the impact of global economic recession,” he said.

Maintaining that each economic index of the country is now positive, Muhith, however, admitted that there were some problems related to both domestic and foreign investment.

Atiur said he was hopeful the government would attach even more priority to smaller but flourishing sectors of the economy. He said reducing poverty that still grips more than 40 percent of Bangladesh’s 150 million people would remain a major challenge along with efforts to speed up and widen development, including infrastructure and energy. Power shortages have prevented new businesses from starting production and often threatened to close existing industries. Hasina was expected to sign a deal during her visit to India next month to import 500 megawatts of power from there.

Bangladesh is also looking to buy electricity from Myanmar and maybe Nepal as well as soon as possible, government officials have said. Atiur said the central bank would announce its monetary policy in January to control inflation, which is rising after hitting a 90-month low of 2.3 percent in June 2009. Annual inflation jumped to 6.71 percent in October from 4.60 percent the previous month mostly because of a steep rise in food costs, government data showed.

Bangladesh leading newspaper, The Daily Star, in a look-back at 2009, credited the economic recovery to the performance of the farmers, workers and the migrant workers abroad who send remittances back home. “Kudos goes to farmers, workers and migrant labourers this year. Without them, Bangladesh could face different music in the year that rolled by.”

Good agricultural production supported by sufficient injection of farm credit boosted domestic demand. A surprising spurt in remittance flow by a dwindling number of migrant workers also helped the cause. And garment workers chipped in with cheap labour to keep the country’s apparels floating in harsh times, the newspaper said.

News Source: Reuters, the Daily Star, D-8 Media.

Egypt expects 520 exploratory and development wells for oil and 36 for natural gas to be drilled in 2010

Egypt is planning to explore for oil and gas and to develop hydrocarbon fields in 2010 with about US$6 billion in investments, the The Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum said.

The ministry also unveiled on Friday a plan to drill 520 exploratory oil and gas wells involving investments of USD two billion in 2010.

The plan envisages drilling 36 gas wells in the country’s northern delta coast, the southern governorates of Qena and Aswan, west of the Nile River, and the southern border areas.

The plan is expected to increase the country’s oil and gas reserves and boost the energy production remarkably, according to a statement issued by the ministry.

Eight new gas fields, including Al-Baraka field, south Egypt, with investments of USD three billion, are set to go operational, heralding a new era of the development of the energy industry in Egypt.

The targeted output capacity of Al-Barak, the first oil field in South Egypt, totals 2,500 barrels per day (bpd).

The New Year will see the start of regular production of Egypt’s first gold factory located at Jabal (mount) Al-Sukkari, Al-Sharqiya Governorate, the statement affirmed.

It put the initial output capacity of the factory at 200 ounces per year in the first two years.

The output will rise gradually to hit 500,000 ounces a year in the following stages of the 20-year term of the project, according to the statement.

The explorations for gold will intensify in the remaining sectors of the mount with a view to increasing the country’s reserves estimated at 13 million ounces.

The ministry is preparing to sign in 2010 six agreements with winners of the international tender cast in last year.

The documents will push to 14 the number of licenses for international bidders on gold exploration and production, it revealed.

The country’s two largest petrochemical plants, involving USD 1.7 billion investments, will also start operation in 2010.

The Methanol Complex in the Mediterranean city of Damietta, costing USD 950 million, has a production capacity of 1.3 million tons a year.

The projected output capacity of the Polypropylene Complex in Port Said which cost USD 790 million, hits 400,000 tons a year, the statement added.

News source: Bloomberg, Global Arab Network.