It is a measure of Pakistan government's determination to break out of its international isolation that it successfully hosted the D-8 Summit on Thursday as scheduled, disregarding the worst-possible law and order situation in the country. That three heads of state, a prime minister and high-level representatives of the other three members showed up in Islamabad is indeed a confirmation of its success and their 'we're with you' message to the people of a fellow Muslim country reaffirms their friendship and goodwill for Pakistan.
But for the reason that Cairo at the time was the venue of international diplomacy to bring about cease-fire in Gaza, President Mohammad Morsi too would have been present at the summit meeting, to be followed next day by his address to a joint session of parliament. Of course, there were a few unsavoury protocol glitches - for instance, Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yasin had to return from the Presidency without meeting President Zardari and D-8 Summit Secretary-General Agoes Pratiko had to hire a taxi at the airport to reach his hotel as there was no Pakistani official to receive him.
But all said and done, the D-8 Summit in Islamabad did greatly succeed in mapping out a roadmap for the participating Muslim-majority countries to jointly face the emerging socio-economic and political global order. On the face of it, the 35-point Islamabad Declaration doesn't go much beyond expressing good intentions to move forward hand-in-hand. But no less importantly, the 'Global Vision' adopted by the conference certainly unfolds to them the huge scope they have to join hands and work for the common good of their more than half a billion people.
Of the issues that figured out as main areas for a joint action by the D-8 members the high on the list is investment in the energy sector through public-private partnerships. The members confirmed their commitment to creating a "framework of co-operation in the field of energy to achieve long-term energy security in our countries," by broadening co-operation which may include collaboration in areas like capacity building, transfer of technology and exploration of new energy sources as well as "research, development and production of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes". That three member-states - Iran, Nigeria and Indonesia - are oil producers, Pakistan has the nuclear know-how and Turkey and Egypt have the wherewithal to provide high-quality infrastructure creation, is a convincing reason to believe that together they are in a position to achieve self-sufficiency in the critical area of energy. And a big boost to this determination should prove to be President Ahmedinejad's disclosure that the gas pipeline project on the Iranian side would be completed by 2014. He was also certain that the gas pipeline project would not be abandoned under American pressure, a calculation reflected, albeit obliquely, in the Islamabad Declaration that noted with concern the 'consequences of the coercive economic measures (read US sanctions against Iran) on the livelihood of people'.
Given the bleak prospects of rapid and sustainable global economic recovery and the feared spell of another Superpower's rivalry now centering on Pacific Rim countries, the D-8 countries have the right cause to pursue an independent course and cut for it a development-oriented role in international politics. All of these eight member-states have in place vibrant democracies which are capable of shaping their destinies free of pressures and compulsions that some of them had in the recent past. Then within them they have the basic strengths in terms of natural resources and human capital to become over time a powerful economic bloc. But it's not that there are no threats to their political and economic stability; the case in point is religious extremism of which the host country - Pakistan - is now the fertile field. Nigeria too is facing this curse in the shape of the extremist group Boko Haram. No doubt, the D-8 member-states have before them both opportunities and challenges, which are bound to determine the future of this outfit. How quickly they move by putting in place legal instruments like visa agreements, customs protocols and banking services will determine the pace of progress towards professed goals. It's a matter of great satisfaction that the summit agreed upon setting up the D-8 Secretariat Headquarters in Turkey. The organisation is a 15-year-old body but meets only once every two years and hasn't gone much beyond merely expressing good words sans actions doing the talking, that's too little precious to build big hopes about its future. We hope things would now move at a quicker pace.