TEHRAN The two-day summit of eight Islamic developing countries opened on Monday in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, with strong calls against unbridled globalization. According to an AFP report from Dhaka, the Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad led the assault with a statement, blaming globalization for his country's financial crisis and for much of the developing world's economic woes. Globalization has broken down the barriers we had depended on to protect our cultures and religion, he said in a speech at the opening of the summit.

In the face of this assault, we find ourselves quite helpless. Mahathir said unchecked free movement of capital and money was to blame for Malaysia's financial crisis but added that further moves are being promoted in every field. Iran's First Vice President Hassam Habibi in an address to the second summit of the developing Muslim states D-8 called on the D-8 member countries to boost mutual economic, industrial and trade cooperation.

Habibi said that expansion of cooperation in the said areas will not be possible but through easing access to each other's markets, exchange of technology and technical know-how and facilitating transit of industrial and commercial goods. The most important problem the D-8 member countries are facing is in relation to globalization of economy, and the bitter experiences of the Southeast Asian states mandates the D-8 members to coordinate their efforts in the field of economy, he noted.

He said that formation of the D-8 group consulting engineers association presents another ground for scientific cooperation among the members. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said, there is a need to regulate globalization. He called for vigilance against market instability besides dangers of unchecked and unmanaged globalization. But Turkey's President Suleyman Demirel warned against protectionism in response to the problems. It appears that the present challenges might force some countries to adopt protective measures.

However, the concern is that such measures might further aggravate the situation instead of bringing remedy. But both Demirel and Iranian Vice President Hassan Habibi called for greater cooperation among countries at the summit, which also includes Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia and Nigeria. We can attain our common prosperity if we learn how to live and work together, Demirel said before handing over leadership of the group to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed. Three senior diplomats from Pakistan and Turkey believe that the D-8, a group of eight developing countries, can be the best platform for the closer cooperation between the Islamic countries.

Pakistani Ambassador Javid Husain, Turkish Ambassador Sencar Ozsoy and the Indonesian Ambassador Soegiono talking to the TEHRAN TIMES commented on the ongoing summit of the D-8 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The D-8 was established in 1997 to strengthen socio-economic cooperation among its member states and further global partnership in the world economy on a democratic and participatory basis, Javid Husain said. The group would strive to bring about economic development by increasing trade among its members and their share of international trade, enhancing cooperation between their central banks, promoting mutual investments to integrate their economies, establishing free trade zones, sharing their privatization experiences, promoting tourism, and encouraging cooperation to increase agricultural production in the D-8 countries, Javid Husain said.

Javid Husain said Pakistan would play its due role as an active member of the D-8 by pooling its resources with the other member states for bringing about socio-economic development through cooperation in various fields. The ambassador said the Istanbul Declaration which was issued at the end of the first D-8 member states on the need for a stable international macro-economic framework, open markets, enhanced financial resource support and infusion of technological dynamism to sustain the competitiveness of their economies and to overcome their problems of integration to the world economy.

Turkish ambassador Ozsoy said in another interview with the TEHRAN TIMES that the D-8 is important for promotion of bilateral and multinational cooperation of its members. Turkey had its presidency and now the post will be handed over to Bangladesh. The ideology of D-8 belonged to Turkey and we believe that it will follow common interest of its members, Ozsoy said.

Every member country has one industrial project and Turkey is working on a project for the production of light planes for its use in agricultural sector or fire fighting, Ozsoy said. Indonesian Ambassador Soegiono said, Indonesia, as a member of D-8 Group, has always attached great importance to the positive role of this group through their projects and plans, and has constantly strived to contribute to the materialization of its objectives.

He added, Despite all the difficulties our country is facing at present, Indonesia has never retreated its efforts as an active group member and strongly believes that through the promotion of the cooperation among all the members, all the objectives of D-8 group can be achieved in long term. The record of this group in the past has shown some progress, and I hope this summit in Dhaka will review not only the previous projects, but also adopt new policies and plans with due respect to the existing matters and also shortcomigns, since we believe that every achievement we make, can be a step forward in the cause of South-South cooperation and even a step closer to the North-South partnership for development Soegiono said.

D-8 includes Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.