The Second special session of the D-8 Council of Foreign Ministers met on the sidelines of the 71st session of the UNGA on 23 September 2016 at New York. The session was arranged primarily to discuss two important issues of holding the 9th D-8 Summit and appointment of the next Secretary-General of D-8.

The Council reconfirmed the principle of rotation for holding the 9th Summit in Turkey in 2017. The Council also confirmed the recommendation of the D-8 Commissioners to delink the age limit of 60 years from the appointment of the Secretary-General by amending Article 20 of the Staff Regulations. Consequently, the Council also endorsed the D-8 Commissioners’ other recommendations for the appointment of Mr. Ku Jaafar Ku Shaari, the Malaysia candidate as the next Secretary-General of D-8. It was also approved that the incumbent Secretary-General would continue in his present position until the 9th Summit. 

In his statement the D-8 Secretary-General Dr. Seyed Ali Mohammad Mousavi pointed out that the organization had been undergoing a critical passage of time and urged Member States to rethink about the direction that the organization was heading to. He also stressed the importance to remove uncertainty in the principal organ, which was affecting sectorial cooperation due to lack of spirit from the Member States. 

In this statement, the Chairman of the Organization, Mr. Sartaj Aziz stressed the importance to remember the core objective of the D-8 and urged for collective efforts on the economic development agenda. In this regard, he especially highlighted significant progress towards the implementation of the PTA. He also elaborated D-8 achieving Observer Status at the UNGA.