KUALA LUMPUR : The D8 group of developing nations is expected to endorse a 10-year roadmap on trade cooperation during a summit in Malaysia next week, an official said on Thursday.

"The 10-year plan aims to encourage greater economic cooperation between member nations and boost our intra-trade from five percent of the total trade for D8 countries to 15 to 20 percent in the next 10 years," secretary-general Dipo Alam told AFP.

"Last year, total D8 trade was 1.0 trillion dollars and intra-trade was about 60 billion dollars so we believe this cooperation will open more opportunities for us," he added.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinijad, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Pakistani premier Yousuf Raza Gilani and Malaysia's Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will attend the talks.

The group also includes Bangladesh, Egypt and Nigeria which will be represented by ministers at the July 4-8 conference, with the summit to be held on the final day.

However, Dipo said the grouping has yet to implement three agreements that would help it reach its target.

He said the main stumbling block has been agreement on a 2005 preferential trade agreement that was deadlocked on the "rules of origin" part of the pact, which trade officials are trying to resolve ahead of the summit.

The rules of origin which are used to determine the source of goods for trade purposes.

"Without the rules of origin, we cannot implement the Preferential Trade Agreement and at the moment only Malaysia and Iran have ratified the pact," Dipo said.

"Six member countries have already agreed to having local content at 40 percent but Bangladesh wants the local content to be about 30 percent while Egypt wants it as high as 50 percent," he added.

"If they ask for 50 percent then there will be no trade."

Dipo said that officials were struggling to reach a compromise before the arrival of the leaders.

"We are pushing the ratification of a customs agreement and a visa programme for businessmen and traders," he said but was unable to say when these agreements would be concluded.

Dipo said that upon the implementation of the agreements, trade among the grouping was expected to grow substantially. - AFP/de