D-8 Summit: Tayyip Erdogan advises member countries to trade in national currencies

Istanbul: Turkey President, Tayyip Erdogan advised member countries of D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation to use national currency in trade. He said that it will have a positive impact on the economy.

According to the news published in Daily Sabah, speaking at the summit in Istanbul on Friday, Mr. Erdogan said that the transaction in the national currency will have a huge effect on the trade relations.

He also said that there is no need to dissolve economies under exchange rate pressure.

In order to implement the plan, Mr. Erdogan said that there is a need for central banks of member states to come together to setup clearance house. Participation of D-8 countries should also increase, he added.

For better cooperation between countries, the organization must update as per the changing situation, Erdogan suggested.

Talking about the organization, Erdogan said that D-8 cannot remain same as everything is changing in the present world. He also said that new members must be allowed to join the organization.

For further cooperation between the countries of the organization, Mr. Erdogan stressed the need to ease visa and customs norms.

Talking about the expected outcome of the suggestions, he said that if they are ratified and executed by every member of the organization, trade volume can exceed $500 billion which is currently $100 billion.

He called for setting up of project support fund to make the organization more productive.

This year, D-8 summit is being held in Istanbul. Leaders that attended this summit are Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Iran’s First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri and the Vice President of Indonesia, Jusuf Kalla.

The D-8 organization was formed in 1996. Members of this organization are Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkey

It may be mentioned that Turkey and Indonesia are also the members of the G20 organization.