Dr. Seyed Ali Mohammad Mousavi, D-8 Secretary-General addressed a conference on D-8 at the invitation of ESAM (Economic and Social Research Center) and Sakarya University on 15 March 2016 in Sakarya, Turkey. 

Dr. Mousavi informed the audience of cooperation background, principles and commitments of the D-8 as well as challenges and opportunities facing within the D-8. “A total population of about 1 billion in the D-8 member countries also presents a huge potential export market and vast capacity in human resource” he said at the conference. 

Students and academicians were also briefed on development of the D-8 Organization in last 18 years, particularly on principal organs and also six priority areas of cooperation namely trade, industry and SMEs, agriculture and food security, transportation, energy and tourism.

Dr. Mousavi interacted and exchanged with academicians and students during the conference. Answering questions from academicians and students, Dr. Mousavi expressed economic experience and developments among D-8 Member States and D-8’s contribution to its members in international economy. He highlighted that the volume of D-8 intra-trade increased impressively from US$ 15 billion in 1997 to almost US$ 150 billion in 2012. By percentage share to the volume of D-8 total trade, growth of D-8 intra-trade increased from 3.4% in 1997 to 8.2% in 2012, which represents a solid improvement. He also underlined a number of other organizational accomplishments, such as D-8 Charter, D-8 Global Vision, D-8 Agreements, and MoUs signed with regional and international organizations.