KARACHI, Feb 16: Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali said on Monday that Pakistan's emphasis at the D-8 summit in Tehran would be on facilitating economic development of member states.

"Pakistan's point of view is that we should offer whatever facilities we can to each other in the economic field. This will be our approach, but Pakistan's interest will be kept supreme," he said in an exclusive interview to APP.

The prime minister is due to leave for Iran on Tuesday to attend the summit that would be held on Wednesday. Answering a question about gas pipeline projects, the premier said he had talked to Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Pakistan-Turkmenistan-India and Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline projects.

He said the Indian side had agreed to these proposals during its talks with President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad last month. "India needs gas more than we do," he observed.

Mr Jamali said Pakistan's team headed by Privatization and Investment Minister Hafeez Shaikh was in Tehran to attend Tuesday's ministerial meeting. The draft of Tehran Declaration would be ready by Wednesday, he added.

In reply to a question about the agenda of the summit, Mr Jamali said the main emphasis would be on economic interests. "Most of the D-8 members belong to ECO countries like Turkey, Iran and Pakistan," he said, adding that these countries enjoyed an edge in the bloc.

He said an economic warfare was going on in the world and it would be better to offer economic benefits to each other at every forum and "this will be our endeavour at the summit".

Mr Jamali recalled that during his last visit to Iran he had discussed Pakistan-Iran gas project with the Iranian president. The prime minister said he had talked to Iran's First Vice-President, Dr Arif, on the issue and there had been an agreement, in principle, and a draft had also been worked out. Dr Arif, he said, would visit Pakistan within next 10 days to discuss the matter.