President Prabowo Subianto attends the D-8 Summit in Cairo on Dec. 19, 2024 local time. (Photo Courtesy of Presidential Press Bureau)
Jakarta. World’s largest Muslim-majority country, Indonesia, is calling on its fellow Developing-8 or D-8 members to establish a halal value chain ecosystem to boost the bloc’s growth.
President Prabowo Subianto recently spoke before leaders of the D-8 grouping which originally brought together Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkiye in Cairo. Azerbaijan officially joined as a new member at the Egypt summit. All these countries have a sizable Muslim population. Aside from pushing for a better implementation of the intra-group trade pact, Indonesia wants to see the D-8 build its value chain of goods permissible by Islamic law.
“We must create a halal value chain through a strengthened D-8 halal economic network,” Prabowo told the D-8 Summit.
According to Prabowo, the D-8 countries are forecast to crack the top 25 of the world’s largest economies by 2050 — based on PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates. The retired army general also claimed that the D-8 was the world’s third-largest economic bloc with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of $4.8 trillion as of 2023.
“D-8 must deepen its economic integration and cooperation. … We must effectively implement the preferential trade agreement between us. We must establish streamlined and simplified customs procedures within intra-D-8 trade,” Prabowo said.
The D-8 already has a preferential trade agreement in place, although its tariff reductions are not that significant. Indonesia ratified the trade pact back in 2011. Jakarta is currently eyeing a bilateral trade pact with Cairo.
Indonesia boasts the world’s largest domestic halal market, according to the 2021/2022 Indonesia Halal Markets Report. The country’s domestic spending across halal economy products and services amounted to $184 billion in 2020, potentially reaching $281.6 billion by 2025. Indonesia is home to 229.6 million Muslims as of 2020.
All D-8 members are part of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The report put Indonesia among the top global suppliers of halal goods to OIC members in 2020. Indonesia’s OIC-bound halal products export reached $8.6 billion that year. The figures already include products that are halal by nature such as vegetables. D-8 members Malaysia, Pakistan, Egypt, and Bangladesh were among the top markets for Indonesian halal products, the report revealed.
With the participation of the President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, the work of the eleventh edition of the D8 Summit of the Organization of Eight Islamic Countries for Economic Cooperation was launched today, Thursday, in the new administrative capital in Egypt.
Article two – Al Quds
With the participation of the President: The start of the D8 Summit in Cairo
The President will deliver two speeches during the summit, the first during the opening session, and the second during a session dedicated to the latest developments in Palestine and Lebanon.
The D8 Summit, chaired by Egypt and held under the slogan: “Investing in Youth and Supporting Small and Medium Enterprises: Shaping Tomorrow’s Economy,” will discuss ways to confront successive global economic and political changes and enhance economic cooperation between member states. It will also include a special session on Palestine and Lebanon.
The Organization of Eight Islamic Countries for Economic Cooperation includes: Egypt, Turkey, Bangladesh, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, and Pakistan.
The organization aims to increase economic cooperation among member states to promote economic growth, sustain development, and enhance and improve living standards, by focusing on achieving improvement and enhancing cooperation in agriculture, trade, transportation, industry, energy and tourism.
ARTICLE 3 – AZERTAC
Azerbaijan elected member of Developing Eight Organization for Economic Cooperation
On December 19, at the 11th Summit of the Developing Eight Organization for Economic Cooperation (D-8) held in Cairo, Egypt, the Republic of Azerbaijan was unanimously elected as a member of the D-8, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told AZERTAC.
As the first expansion of D-8 since its founding, their membership is noteworthy as an outcome of President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev’s successful and determined foreign policy.
