Dr. Seyed AliMohammad Mousavi, the D-8 Secretary-General, attended the 5th ECO Ministerial Meeting on Environment on 17 December 2014 in Istanbul, Turkey. 

Dr. Mousavi in his statement mentioned that the developing countries were vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change, air & water pollution, water availability and quality, and change in land usage etc. He emphasized the need for strategic synergies in order to strengthen developing country resilience to these impacts as well as to strive for collective efforts toward achievement of sustainable environment system. 

The D-8 Secretary-General also mentioned that environment and climate change along with sustainable development entailed one of the areas of cooperation identified by the D-8 Organization. He referred to the need for governments and private sectors in the D-8 Member States for closer interaction and cooperation in order to create right condition and institutional frameworks for inclusion and practice of effective principles of sustainable development into individual country policies and programmes.

Dr. Mousavi stressed on the pivotal necessity for developing countries to explore innovative ways to sustain their economies through green-economy policies and invest significantly on research and development. He underscored the significance of bridging the gap between the national and international efforts to address concerns for environmental sustainability and to put joint efforts for the common and coherent agenda.