ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has proposed a five-point roadmap to materialize the vision of D-8, which include mobilizing financial resources to recover robustly for the economic and health crises incurred by COVID-19 pandemic.

Addressing the 10th D-8 virtual summit today (Thursday), he invited the D-8 leaders to consider his five-point plan and join advocacy for COVID-19 related relief measures to deal with the unique economic and financial challenges faced by developing countries as a result of the pandemic.

Imran Khan proposed taking concrete actions to achieve target of expanding inter-D-8 trade form currently around 100 billion dollars to 500 billion dollars by 2030. He said it should include measures like simplification of border procedures, enhancing institutional linkages and operationalizing new initiatives. 

Imran Khan said Pakistan welcomes ideas like  D-8 Payment Card which would enable transactions in local currencies.

The Prime Minister said D-8 should develop a Youth Engagement Strategy focused on promoting cultural, educational, scientific and business exchange.

He said linkages should be established between educational institutions like scholarships, skill development, trainings, fellowships, joint research and exchange program for the youth particularly in the field of science, technology, and innovation.

Imran Khan emphasized on promoting knowledge-based economy, increase expenditure for research and development and focus on rapid digitization. He said technological development is a gateway to economic prosperity, particularly in the post pandemic period when reliance of technology would be greater than ever in the human history.

The Prime Minister stressed the need to make D-8 more relevant to the lives of our citizens by promoting food security, enhancing cooperation in health, holding joint sports events and helping each other during natural disasters.

He said we need high-level of commitment and mobilization of financial resources by both developed and developing economies to achieve these goals. He said partnerships between governments, international financial institutions, businesses and civil society are essential to leverage technology, innovation and skills to enable every young person to have all opportunities to realise their full potential. 

Imran Khan expressed the confidence that our collective wisdom and commitment will bring a new vigour to D-8.