In a meeting between secretary general of the eight developing Islamic countries (D8) Widi Pratikto and Iranian Commerce Minister Mehdi Ghazanfari, it was decided that Iran to send a finalized list of its goods to the secretariat of the organization for implementing a preferential trade agreement.

In this line, Ghazanfari stated that the Islamic Republic of Iran is the first country in the region which has signed and approved the preferential trade agreement (PTA) and has presented a list of suggested goods to help implement the agreement.

The commerce minister added that Iran is committed to implement the preferential trade agreement as soon as possible. He expressed the hope that the fourth D8 member state would also approve the agreement.

Ghazanfari went on to say that considering the range of goods included in the preferential trade agreement, which includes eight percent of tariff lines of the countries, the method of preparing the list of goods which is effective in boosting trade among the member states would be of high importance.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has prepared its proposed list so that the included goods are currently widely transacted between Iran and other member states. So, other countries should take issue into account in their finalized lists of goods, the commerce minister stated.

The D8 secretary general for his part expressed satisfaction over traveling to the Islamic Republic of Iran and meeting officials of the country, especially Mr. Ghazanfari. He added that Turkey has recently approved a list of its goods for the agreement and will present its finalized list. So, grounds will be provided for implementing the agreement in the near future, he said.

Widi Pratikto expressed the hope that the member states would present their finalized lists to the D8 secretariat on due dates.

According to the preferential trade agreement, each of the eight member states will reduce eight percent of their total tariff lines, with over 10 percent of tariffs, since implementation date of the agreement for underdeveloped member states within six years and for other member states within four years.

The preferential trade agreement includes 34 articles. A draft of the agreement was presented by the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2005 to the member states and it was welcomed. The agreement was approved in 2006 by the member states and it was decided that they present their proposed lists.

The D8 preferential trade agreement was approved in August 2006 by the cabinet and it was ratified one year later by the parliament.

Iran, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Turkey, Malaysia, Egypt and Nigeria are the member states of the group of eight developing countries (D8), which was established in 1996 with the aim of establishing and boosting economic relations among developing Islamic countries and increasing their role in world markets.