El-Khatib said the ministers approved reports from the group’s supervisory and expert committees and endorsed terms of reference for negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).
He said the outcomes build on commitments made at the D-8 Cairo Summit in December 2024, particularly the shift from political coordination to ‘tangible economic initiatives’ like trade facilitation, support for small and medium enterprises, and cooperation in technology and artificial intelligence (AI), a release from Egypt’s State Information Service said.
The ministers also agreed to accelerate implementation of the D-8 Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) and strengthen customs tools tied to it, describing the agreement as central to boosting intra-group trade.
El-Khatib highlighted progress on a new D-8 Business Forum aimed at attracting joint investment and bringing together business leaders from member states to identify projects in priority sectors.
El-Khatib stressed the importance of launching the CEPA Working Group to broaden the scope of cooperation, define priorities for the next phase and drive progress toward raising intra-trade among D-8 countries to $500 billion by 2030, in line with the group’s road map.
The group has a combined gross domestic product of $5.1 trillion, a per capita income of $4,115, cumulative exports worth $1.1 trillion, imports worth $1.2 trillion and an intra-group trade rate of 7 per cent.
ALCHEMPro News Desk (DS)
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