The secretary-general of the D-8 has acknowledged the “failures” of the 20-year old organisation and said they are looking forward to hold a “very successful” summit in Dhaka in April next year.
Ku Jaafar Ku Shaari at the ‘DCAB Talk’ in the capital on Thursday said they are also working on bringing a “mindset” change in the secretariat itself to give a momentum to organisation of eight Muslim countries – Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.
“The prime minister has agreed that it (summit) should be held sometime in April. We are expecting to have a very successful summit,” he said about his meeting with Sheikh Hasina on Thursday as Dhaka will host the 10th summit.
Ku Shaari also termed the prime minister the ‘founding mother’ of D-8 which was established in 1997 when Hasina was in power in her first term.
The establishment of D-8 was announced officially through the Istanbul Declaration of Summit of Heads of State/Government on June 15, 1997.
Bangladesh earlier hosted the second summit in 1999.
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.
“We have to admit that there were failures and that this is something we have to improve on,” the secretary-general from Malaysia said on being asked.
The Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) hosted the DCAB Talk with its President Raheed Ejaz and General Secretary Nurul Islam Hasib onstage at the BIISS auditorium.
The secretary general said he came to Dhaka to attend the roundtable of the South East Asian Co-operation (Seaco) Foundation and World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) Foundation and also to meet the prime minister.
During the meeting with the prime minister, he said they had discussed the summit and how this can be made a successful event.
Ku Shaari said the prime minister will invite some leaders other than the member states as per her desire.
He said the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will hand over the baton to the Bangladesh prime minister from the summit as the next chair.
“We want to be realistic. Everything will be based on the reality or real situations,” he said, adding that he introduced “the idea of changing the image and changing the attitude and efficiency of the secretariat itself”.
“We are managing our people to work towards being professionally in engaging with all the aspects of the organisation,” the secretary general said.
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D-8 banking on Bangladesh summit in April next year: Secretary-general
