Islamabad: Muslim leaders are to gather on Thursday for a rare summit in Pakistan designed to increase trade and investment but is likely to be overshadowed by the Gaza conflict as diplomats scramble to arrange a ceasefire.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Egyptian leader Mohammad Mursi and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, key players in the Middle East, are scheduled to be among those attending the Developing Eight (D8) summit.
The D8 groups Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey, with an estimated total population of one billion people.
Nigerian leader Goodluck Jonathan arrived in Islamabad on Wednesday. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is also due to attend. Bangladesh and Malaysia will be represented at adviser- and ministerial-level respectively.
The summit will mark the first visit by an Egyptian president to Pakistan in four decades and by the first by a Nigerian leader in 28 years.
Its ambitious goal is to increase trade between member countries from $130 billion (Dh477.5 billion) to $507 billion by 2018.
D8 leaders are set “to discuss ways to cushion the effects of the global economic recession and climate change and tackle ways to boost trade among themselves”, the Pakistani government said in a statement.
Islamabad rarely hosts major international gatherings given the Taliban and Al Qaida-linked violence that has plagued the country since the 9/11 attacks.
Security will be stepped up significantly, not least as the summit coincides with the holy month of Muharram, a magnet for sectarian attacks in Pakistan.
Thousands of extra police and paramilitaries will deploy and construction work has been suspended around the diplomatic enclave to provide “God willing, foolproof security”, Islamabad police chief Bani Ameen told AFP.
Pakistan wants the summit to boost trade and investment, strengthen its international standing and help “remove misconceptions [about Pakistan] created in a section of international media”, the statement said.
The D8 is also due to adopt a charter at what will be its eighth summit. But commentators believe proceedings could be overshadowed by events in the Middle East, where 136 Palestinians and five Israelis have been killed in eight days.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has flown to Israel to help secure a truce. Egypt, Iran and Turkey have been angry critics of Israel as it bombards the Gaza Strip to try to end Hamas rocket launches from the enclave.
Egypt, which crucially maintains relations with both Hamas and Israel, has been a key player in trying to negotiate a ceasefire. Mursi is scheduled to address a joint session of the Pakistani parliament on Friday.
Iran’s Ahmadinejad will likely use the meeting to ease his country’s isolation due to sanctions over its contested nuclear programme.
Many in the West suspect the programme masks a covert attempt to develop nuclear weapons, something vehemently denied by Iran.
Pakistan will also likely press Iran over a multi-billion dollar deal to import Iranian gas despite US pressure to abandon the project because of the sanctions.
Analysts say the summit is an opportunity for Pakistan to make diplomatic headway and overcome its reputation as a hub of global terrorism.
Retired general turned political analyst Talat Masoud said it was a chance for it to emerge as “one of the leading players in the Islamic world,” but warned that events in the Middle East could dominate.
