VZCZCXYZ0006
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHKL #0591/01 1930551
ZNR UUUUU ZZH (CCY ADB3A7B1 MSI6094 538)
P 110551Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1328
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUCNISL/ISLAMIC COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1592

UNCLAS KUALA LUMPUR 000591 
 
C O R R E C T E D C O P Y  (TEXT FORMAT) 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS USTR 
GENEVA FOR USTR 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD EINV EAGR PREL MY IR
SUBJECT: MALAYSIA HOSTS GROUP OF 8 ISLAMIC DEVELOPING 
COUNTRIES SUMMIT (D-8) //CORRECTED COPY; TEXT FORMAT// 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: At the Sixth D-8 Summit hosted by 
Malaysia July 7-8, leaders from eight developing 
majority-Islamic countries focused on the recent steep 
global rise in food and fuel prices, and pledged to 
increase their intra-group trade and investment.   Iranian 
president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used the forum to attack the 
U.S. and others for discouraging the "peaceful use of 
nuclear energy" by any country, especially in a time of 
high global oil prices. Senior GOM officials refrained from 
commenting on the Iranian president's rants.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) The sixth Developing Eight Countries Summit (D-8) 
took place in Kuala Lumpur July 7-8, 2008.  Established in 
1997, the D-8 comprises Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, 
Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey. Five of the eight 
leaders attended the summit, including Iranian president 
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Egypt, Nigeria, and Turkey were 
represented by lower level officials).  Malaysia is taking 
over the group's chair from Indonesia, and will maintain 
the chair until the next summit in Nigeria in 2010. 
 
¶3. (U) The 25-point declaration issued at the summit's 
conclusion emphasized trade and investment, noting at the 
outset the D-8's call for a "meaningful and fair 
conclusion" to the WTO Doha Round; the group also expressed 
"full support" for Iran's accession to the WTO.  The 
group's leaders endorsed a 10 year trade roadmap aimed at 
boosting economic cooperation and trade among the members, 
with a goal of boosting intra-group trade to about 15-20 
percent of their total trade by 2018. 
 
¶4. (U) The summit's theme of cooperation was belied 
somewhat by reported contention between Malaysia, which 
wanted the summit to focus on rising food and fuel prices, 
and Iran, which discouraged a discussion focusing on fuel 
prices.  In the end the summit declaration emphasized the 
need to address food price increases.  However, while 
noting the "vital role of energy to achieve sustainable 
development and growth", the declaration also urged the 
international community to address oil price rises. In this 
regard it called for enhanced collaboration in a number of 
areas, including "peaceful uses of nuclear energy."  In a 
post summit press conference, Malaysian PM Abdullah noted 
the group's intent to cooperate in efforts to raise 
agricultural production of major crops.  Before the summit 
he had called for a halt to the widespread conversion of 
arable land around the world to produce bio-fuels; after 
the summit, he pledged that Malaysia would not increase its 
oil palm acreage (though neither would it decrease current 
acreage). 
 
¶5. (U) Before the summit Malaysian Foreign Minister Rais 
Yatim stated that the issue of Iran's nuclear program would 
not be placed on the agenda.  However, in interviews with 
Malaysian press both before and after the summit, 
Ahmadinejad stated that all countries should be able to use 
nuclear energy without restrictions, and he suggested that 
nuclear technology could be applied in certain 
manufacturing and agriculture sectors to boost economic 
development.  Ahmadinejad said Western powers such as the 
U.S. and the UK opposed Iran's quest for nuclear power 
because they wanted to sell their own crude oil and gas to 
Iran once Iran ran out of such resources itself. He also 
blamed U.S. policies that fostered a weak dollar as 
contributing to high crude oil prices. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Comment: Although the D-8 purports to be a 
grouping of like-minded countries seeking to enhance trade 
and investment among themselves, its intra-group trade 
remains relatively inconsequential.  Malaysia's cumulative 
trade with the other seven D-8 countries currently accounts 
for only 4.9% of its total global trade, and only Indonesia 
among the seven falls within the ranks of MalaysiaQs 20 top 
trading partners.  Although the summit declaration is 
loaded with action verbs, the underlying thrust is that the 
developed world must do more to address issues like food 
and fuel prices (as exemplified by PM Abdullah's statement 
that Malaysia would not consider a cut in oil palm 
acreage). 
 
¶7. (SBU) Comment continued. The D-8 Summit likely would 
attract little attention outside its member states were it 
not for the presence of the outspoken Ahmadinejad, for whom 
such an event provides a platform to criticize the U.S. and 
others.  Local press widely covered Ahmadinejad's remarks, 
 
who spoke out several times during his brief visit to 
Malaysia.  Although Malaysia tolerated the Iranian 
president's statements, we did not detect any hint of 
official Malaysian acquiescence to his more outrageous 
claims, especially regarding supposed U.S. complicity in 
the rise of global oil prices.  While Ahmadinejad provided 
ample opportunity to jump in, Malaysian officials also 
steered clear of the Iran nuclear issue. 
 
KEITH