Malaysia to Review D-8’s US$500 Billion Trade Goal Before Taking Plan to Cabinet
Ahmad Zahid plans consultations on the bloc-wide 2030 target and a separate discussion on Malaysia's trade surplus with Türkiye.
Malaysia will examine how it can contribute to a D-8 target of more than US$500 billion in trade among member countries by 2030 before a proposal goes to the Cabinet, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Sunday.
He plans to discuss the matter first with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan following a Nov. 6 meeting with D-8 Secretary-General Sohail Mahmood in Istanbul.
The target concerns trade within the Developing Eight Organisation for Economic Cooperation as a whole. It is not a forecast for Malaysian exports alone or an announcement that Malaysia has approved a new spending programme.
Ahmad Zahid outlined the planned consultations at the end of his Nov. 5–8 working visit to Türkiye, Bernama reported. He also said he would consult Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Johari Abdul Ghani about the bilateral trade imbalance, which currently favours Malaysia.
According to the deputy prime minister, the Turkish side asked Malaysia to explore importing more goods and products to help balance that relationship. That bilateral discussion is separate from the wider D-8 trade ambition.
From a Target to Commercial Transactions
The D-8 secretariat has been promoting the 2030 goal in other recent meetings. Its account of the Nov. 1–3 COMCEC and business meetings in Istanbul identifies trade financing, preferential market access and procedural barriers among the practical issues.
The organisation says its 2020–2030 roadmap needs to translate into effective implementation of trade agreements, stronger financial connections and greater private-sector participation. Those steps describe how an aspiration for larger trade flows might be pursued; they do not establish that the target has already been reached.
Discussions with the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Development covered business connections, investment facilitation, halal industries, smaller enterprises and capacity-building. The secretariat also identified the next D-8 summit, to be hosted by Indonesia in 2027, as an opportunity to advance cooperation.
Malaysia Already Has a Preferential Trade Framework
Malaysia's participation is not starting from a blank slate. A MITI announcement dated Oct. 27, 2023 records that the D-8 Preferential Trade Agreement entered into force for Malaysia on Oct. 1 that year, following the relevant customs duties order.
The notice explained the use of D-8 certificates of origin and cost-analysis applications. At that time, it identified Iran, Nigeria and Türkiye as other members that had completed ratification and implementation.
That is a historical implementation record, rather than an up-to-date list of every eligible destination in November 2026. Exporters considering preferential treatment need the current tariff schedule, product coverage and origin requirements for their transaction.
A lower preferential duty is also different from an unrestricted market. The target itself does not remove documentation requirements or prove that every product can enter every member country on the same terms.
Cabinet Consideration Still Ahead
The group began with the Istanbul Declaration in 1997 and now has nine members, including Azerbaijan, alongside Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Türkiye. Its name reflects its original eight-country membership.
For Malaysia, the next announced step is consultation among the relevant ministers before Cabinet consideration. The deputy prime minister's comments establish that policy review is being prepared, while the detailed national measures and any resulting commercial commitments remain to be set out.