A group of lower-middle-income states, known as the Group of Eleven (G-11), today signed an agreement to boost economic, trade and cultural cooperation among the member countries, according to dpa. The signing of the accord took place at the end of a summit meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Conference (WEF) currently in process at the Dead Sea resort. The bloc, established in 2005 as a Jordanian-led initiative, groups Jordan, Croatia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Georgia, Honduras, Indonesia, Morocco, Pakistan, Paraguay and Sri Lanka. The agreement provides "an institutional framework for the partnership" among the group's member states, a joint communique issued at the meeting said. The statement hailed the "progress" made in the dialogue initiated by the G11 presidency with the G8 group in 2007 in Berlin, and urged a continuation of talks between the two groups on more specific areas of cooperation. The meeting underscored the importance of the implementation of commitments outlined at the G20 summit last month in London in supporting developing economies, to enable them to cope with economic hardships from the global financial crisis and to restore growth and long-term sustainability, the statement said.
