KUALA LUMPUR: Leaders are expected to discuss and review the progress and achievements of two decades of partnership at the Ninth Summit of the D-8 Organisation for Economic Cooperation (D-8), to be held in Istanbul, Turkey on Oct 20.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi will lead Malaysia’s delegation to the D-8, accompanied by Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman and senior officials from the DPM and Foreign Ministry's office.
Zahid is scheduled to deliver the country statement during the Summit and introduce Datuk Ku Jaafar Ku Shaari at the summit, as the incoming D-8 Secretary-General who will assume the post on Jan 1, 2018.
Ku Jaafar, who is also former ambassador of Malaysia to Egypt, Brunei and Qatar, will replace Dr Seyed Ali Mohammad Mousavi who has served as D-8 Secretary-General for four years.
Zahid will also hold bilateral meetings with leaders at the margins of the summit, to discuss issues of mutual interest.
The summit, with the theme 'Expanding Opportunities through Cooperation', marks the 20th anniversary of the D-8 since its establishment in 1997.
Leaders at the summit are also expected to chart the course for economic cooperation for the next decade in six priority areas, namely trade, industrial cooperation and small and medium enterprises, agriculture and food security, transportation, energy and minerals and tourism.
Two outcome documents, namely the Istanbul Declaration and D-8 Istanbul Plan of Action are also expected to be adopted during the D-8.
The Istanbul Declaration reaffirms the commitments of member states towards the D-8’s objectives and cooperation framework in charting D-8’s future strategic direction.
The D-8 Istanbul Plan of Action outlines the measures and initiatives that would be undertaken over the short, medium and long term to enhance economic cooperation and development among its member states.
The summit will be preceded by the 17th Session of the D-8 Council of Ministers on Oct 19 and the 39th Session of the D-8 Commission on Oct 17 to 18.
The D-8 was established on June 15, 1997 in Istanbul, Turkey as a mechanism for cooperation in the economic sector among eight like-minded countries, namely Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.