At the commencement of the 17th Session of the D-8 Council of Foreign Ministers on 19 October 2017 in Istanbul, Turkey, Mr. Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan handed over of Chairmanship of the D-8 Council to Mr. Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey.

With this hand-over, Chairmanship of D-8 Council rotated back to Turkey after 20 years since the first Summit which took place in 1997 in Istanbul, Turkey, Foreign Minister of Turkey expressed firm commitment of his country to the cause of the D-8 cooperation and sought more attachment and initiatives on the part of other Member States. He announced that 18th Session of the Council would be held either at the end of October or in the beginning of November 2018 in Antalya, Turkey in line with the provisions of the D-8 Charter to follow up, review and devised strategic discourse for consolidation of D-8 partnership.