Indonesia was currently discussing the possibility of importing crude oil from Nigeria in an effort to enhance economic and trade relations among D-8 member nations, official news agency Antara reported on Saturday.

"The possibility of oil imports from Nigeria is now being discussed. However, no decision has been made to the effect," Trade Minister Mari Pangestu was quoted as saying.

She made the remarks after accompanying the heads of state and government of the D-8 nations to inspect trade show and Bali Bazaar in the venue of the D-8 Summit at Westin Hotel in Bali.

Mari said that there were three big oil producing countries in the D-8 summit such as Iran, Nigeria and Indonesia.

With the presence of oil producing countries, it was expected that oil trade among member countries could be further enhanced.

Mari did not elaborate the trade value of Indonesian oil import from Nigeria as well as the volume of its planned increase of oil import from the African country.

The minister said Indonesia would also sign cooperation in the construction of oil refinery with Iran.

The Developing 8 (D-8) here on Saturday signed the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) and the Multilateral Agreement on Administrative Assistance in Customs Matters, on the sideline of the D-8 Summit in order to facilitate trade among the member countries.

Trade among the D-8 nations more than doubled to 33 billion U.S. dollars in the six years to 2004, it represents about 4 percent of the 720 billion U.S. dollars of goods and services exchanged between the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The D-8 was established in Istanbul, Turkey, on June 15, 1997. All members, namely Indonesia, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Bangladesh and Pakistan, are developing countries with population of Muslims as majority.

Source: Xinhua