ISLAMABAD, June 28: The D-8 countries will reduce customs duty on importable items by 10-20 per cent under the proposed draft Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) to increase the volume of regional trade.

A commerce ministry official said on Monday that the draft agreement was discussed during the second meeting of the D-8 high-level expert group on trade and trade related matters here on Monday. The meeting was attended by representatives of the D-8 countries.

"At the initial phase the member countries may be requested to lower their tariffs at a certain percentage on a number of import items according to their choice: for example 10-20 per cent of their Harmonized System (HS) tariff lines," the official said.

At subsequent stages, the number of import items that will be subject to tariff reduction and the depth of reductions may be increased in a progressive manner. After the two day's deliberations, the draft PTA will be finalized among the D-8 countries. The draft on PTA is primarily designed to serve as a framework for negotiations, which will subsequently be undertaken.

According to an official announcement, the meeting emphasized that the whole endeavour required constant flow of information related to trade legislation, tariff, para-tariffs, trade barriers, etc., ... of the member countries, as well as processing of all these data.

The Pakistani side expressed the hope that the conclusion of this meeting would provide a clear roadmap to achieve the desired level of economic integration among the member countries, which would be helpful in achieving the ultimate goal of progress and prosperity of the people of member countries.

Pakistan attached great importance to the role that D-8 could play in building strong linkages among the economies of eight large members of the OIC. Pakistan stressed that the objective could only be achieved by fostering the process of economic integration among member states through elimination of non-tariff barriers, reduction of tariffs and exchange of concessions based on the principles of equity and fairness.

The D-8 countries include Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Nigeria, Malaysia, Turkey, Iran and Indonesia. The basic objective of the meeting is to discuss mechanisms of the PTA among the member countries.