The 20th session of the Council of Ministers of D-8 is going to be held in Dhaka on Wednesday, July 27. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the meeting virtually.
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen, briefing reporters on Sunday, said food and energy security, trade, tourism and climate change were some of the areas that would get focus at the meeting.
D-8, also known as Developing-8, is an organization for development cooperation among the eight Muslims countries - Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.
The establishment of D-8 was announced officially through the Istanbul Declaration of Summit of Heads of State/Government on June 15, 1997. The objectives of D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation are to improve member states’ position in the global economy, diversify and create new opportunities in trade relations, enhance participation in decision-making at international level, and improve standards of living.
Ambassador Isiaka Abdulqadir Imam from Nigeria is currently the Secretary General of the D-8 Organization with its Secretariat based in Istanbul-Turkey.
The idea of cooperation among major Muslim developing countries was mooted by Prof. Dr. Necmettin Erbakan, the then Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey, during a Seminar on “Cooperation in Development” which was held in Istanbul in October 1996.
The group envisioned cooperation among countries stretching from South East Asia to Africa. Representatives from Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria and Pakistan attended the seminar.
This conference was the first step towards the establishment of D-8 and it was only after a series of preparatory meetings that D-8 was set up officially and began its activities with the Istanbul Declaration issued at the end of the summit of Heads of State and Government held in Istanbul on June 15, 1997.
According to the first Summit Declaration (Istanbul, 1997), the main objective of D-8 is declared to be socio-economic development in accordance with the principles of peace instead of conflict, dialogue instead of confrontation, cooperation instead of exploitation, justice instead of double-standard, equality instead of discrimination and democracy instead of oppression.
The foreign minister said Bangladesh would share the expertise of food security with the other members. “There is a lot of scope for cooperation,” he said.
The meeting will also take decisions about Azerbaijan’s membership.
Before the ministerial meeting, Bangladesh will also host the 45th session of the D-8 Commission from July 25 to 26.