Foreign ministers of the developing eight (D-8) member countries agreed in Bali on Thursday to set up a secretariat to be operated by a secretary general, a director and an economic expert in an effort to strengthen D-8 cooperation in the economic and trade fields, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said.

Talking to press here on Thursday evening, Wirajuda said the foreign ministers agreed that the D-8 group needed a secretariat to support the work of this group.

The minister made the remarks when explaining the results of the D-8 Foreign Ministers' Council Meeting on Thursday and of the D-8 Commissioners' Meeting on May 9-10, 2006.

He said the establishment of the secretariat was important and strategic owing to the fact that the D-8 group had no secretariat since the group was formed in Istanbul, Turkey, on June 15, 1997, so that the organization progress had often been disturbed.

But, the ministers were not yet able to decide which country would host the secretariat, and to assign a secretary general, director and economic expert.

Wirajuda also explained that Iran, a member of the D-8 group which was holding a summit in Bali, would hand over its chairmanship of the group to Indonesia for the next 2006-2007 term of office.

For that purposes, Indonesia, he said, planned to hold several D-8 meetings, among others the Third Meeting of the Working Group on Energy in Yogyakarta next July.

The D-8 Group was set up in Istanbul on June 15, 1997, by Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.

The significant progress it has made included the making of industrial and technology data of D-8 Group, the omission of some trade barriers of members of the organization, and agreement on custom administration assistance.

The D-8 Group has already held four summits, 8 ministerial meetings, 19 senior official meetings and some expert meetings which discussed energy, trade, industrial, and banking sectors since it was formed nine years ago.

Heads of state and government of the 8-D will host a summit on Saturday here to discuss cooperation among the member countries and signed several agreements, official sources said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 12, 2006)