D-8 summit – The Express Tribune

PM Imran Khan has called on the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation comprising eight of the most populous Muslim-majority countries to expand trade and mobilise their resources to tackle the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic. Addressing a D8 summit virtually the other day, the PM noted that the group accounted for over a billion people and $4 trillion in GDP, but while the prerequisites for growth were there, work still needed to be done. He suggested investing time and money in resource mobilisation, youth engagement, expanding trade between member nations, and developing knowledge-based economies. These proposals are largely interlinked.

The PM also called on members to back his last years proposal for the world to provide debt relief and address illicit financial flows, both of which would bring billions back to the developing world, which could then mobilise the funds for development. That money would also motivate youth engagement in areas such as cultural, educational, scientific and business exchanges. This, in turn, is a stepping stone to developing a knowledge economy, the groundwork for which has already been necessitated everywhere due to the impact Covid-19 has had on how we work.

Several countries which had no significant online work or digital transaction infrastructure have had to quickly develop these. Increased digitisation could also help expand trade by making information on local markets more readily available and cross-border transactions less complicated. PM Imran also called for improving food security and healthcare to improve citizens' lives. These tie into the pandemic's socioeconomic impact, which has caused widening income and health inequalities to widen in countries rich and poor alike.

The impact, of course, has been most visible in poorer countries with weaker welfare systems. But in this comes an opportunity to restructure economies and quickly train and transition workers towards tomorrow's professions and careers. The transition can be done more smoothly if countries like the D8 bloc work together instead of in a vacuum. This would protect labour from exploitation during the transition, while also optimising improvements in communications infrastructure, which helps make the development itself sustainable.

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D-8 summit - The Express Tribune