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Excellencies

Ministers of D-8 Member Countries

 

His Excellency Dr. Dipo Alam

Secretary General of D-8

 

Excellencies, Ambassadors

 

Ladies and Gentlemen

 

On behalf of the Government and people of Malaysia, I bid Your Excellencies a warm welcome to Kuala Lumpur and to the 12th Session of the D-8 Council of Ministers. I am indeed honoured by your presence here in Kuala Lumpur. I hope that all the arrangements for the meeting have been up to your expectations and I sincerely hope that all of you are having a pleasant stay in the heart of the city of Kuala Lumpur.

 

2. Allow me on behalf of all of us present here today to offer our heartfelt appreciation to Dr. Dipo Alam, D-8 Secretary General on his sterling contributions as well as for his invaluable assistance in the preparations leading to the holding of the 12th Session of the Council of Ministers.

 

3. I believe that your respective Commissioners have briefed Your Excellencies of the outcomes of the 27th Session of the Commission which ended on Saturday 31 October 2009. I wish to register my appreciation to the Commission that had transmitted their Report to the Council which I find has reflected the progress achieved by this Grouping. Our determination in underlining the Priority List of Areas of Cooperation would benefit us in identifying and implementing activities to help us realise the objectives of D-8.

 

4. I am pleased that the Commissioners have acknowledged the need for us to focus our efforts on programmes that are of relevance and address the needs of our people. I feel that in the Second Phase of the D-8 Roadmap, Member Countries should ensure that we translate the Action Plans into tangible collaboration and viable business projects for our private sectors to pursue. It is time for the D-8 to shed its reputation as a ‘talk shop’ and emerge as a Grouping which could contribute towards economic growth and socio-economic development of its Member Countries.

 

5. At this juncture, I would like to outline Malaysia’s expectations of what the D-8 should be doing and the direction that we should advance:

 

I. The reinvigoration process that we are undertaking now needs to be achieved within the shortest time frame as the D-8 had been established more than 12 years ago. This in Malaysia’s view could be achieved if the D-8 focus on the Priority List of Areas of Cooperation that had been agreed upon i.e. Trade, Agriculture and Food Security, Industrial Cooperation and SMEs, Transportation, Energy and Minerals.

 

 

II. I recognise that substantial work has been undertaken to follow up on the Ministerial Meeting on Food Security which was held in Kuala Lumpur on 25-27 February 2009. The Kuala Lumpur Initiative is aimed at addressing the requirements of developing agricultural projects to meet the ever increasing demand of food supply and assurances of quality in the agriculture industry. Success in the development of the agricultural sector would contribute towards fulfilling the population’s expectations, offers possibilities of large scale agriculture and enhance Member Countries’ level of high-tech farming.

 

III. Bearing in mind that resources are limited, we need to organise our work based on a Programme of Work which is not too taxing as this could lead to loss of interest and lack of participation in these activities.

 

IV. Our Programme of Work should not be a long list or attempts to be too ambitious. It is much better to focus on a selected list of Programme of Work that we could successfully embark on before we take on other programmes of cooperation. Concluding and succeeding in one priority programme of cooperation would lead to more successes in D-8’s future endeavours as compared to pursuing too many programmes.

 

6. We note that the D-8 Secretariat is small, comprising of a Secretary-General, a Director, an Economist and some support staff. A lean and small Secretariat is appropriate for a small organisation like the D-8. However, we should be mindful of the limited resources available and we need to be business-like by being cost effective, working smart and results oriented. The Secretariat needs to be creative and capitalise the work of other more established organisations and successful models. We also feel that the Secretariat may make full use of the current technological advancements available to us, such as employing e-conferencing to save on time, travel and excessive expenditure. Its a tall order but the Secretariat has to endeavour to be an effective and efficient Secretariat.

 

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen

 

 

7. Malaysia is of the view that the D-8 Plan of Action needs a clear focus and it should be prioritised based on Member Countries’ interests and needs. Fulfilling Member Countries’ needs through consensus decision making process should be the first criteria in the selection of programmes and activities. In doing so, it holds a higher probability of attracting Governments and the private sectors interest.

 

8. Our Commissioners have listed Trade as the top priority for D-8 cooperation. It is therefore of vital importance that all Member Countries complete the signing and ratification of the Preferential Trade Agreement, Agreement on Customs Cooperation and Agreement on Simplification of Visa for D-8 Businessmen. I believe that we should exert more effort on improving the pecuniary advantages of countries by introducing and implementing practical economic programmes on an incremental basis to boost trade and economic development.

 

 

 

9. Concerning the Draft D-8 Charter, Malaysia supports the idea that the D-8 needs a Charter. This is the first time that such a draft is being studied by our Commission. The Commission is also seeking our approval to work on a Charter for the D-8. Malaysia welcomes the Commission’s submission and is ready to lend our approval for the Commission to begin work on the draft Charter.

 

10. In conclusion, I see that we have a lot of work to be done before we can achieve some fruitful results. The Commission had transmitted their Report and we the Council of Ministers will examine all of them and decide accordingly, bearing in mind the interest of all D-8 Member Countries collectively.

 

Thank you.