1. In line with the initiation of Task Forces under WGIC, the proposal to identify the TFs was raised during the Fourth Meeting of D-8 Working Group on Industrial Cooperation (WGIC) on 10-12 November 2008, Bali-Indonesia.

After having and intensive discussion and exchange of views, the meeting agreed to strengthen future cooperation through Task Forces:

1. Automotive (Coordinator: Iran, Egypt, and Indonesia)
2. Energy, Power Sector and Conservation (Coordinator: Turkey, Nigeria)
3. Food production through Mechanization (Coordinator: Malaysia)
4. Cooperation/Transfer of Technology (Coordinator: Turkey, Iran)
5. Petrochemicals and Fertilizer (Coordinator: Indonesia, Iran)
6. Cement (Coordinator: Iran)
7. Steel (Coordinator: Iran)
8. Textile (Coordinator: Egypt, Indonesia)
9. Standardization and Intellectual Property Rights (Coordinator: Turkey, Iran)
10. SMEs (Coordinator: Turkey, Indonesia, Iran, Nigeria)
11. 11.Electronics and IT (Coordinator: Malaysia)

During this meeting, the private sector of Indonesia, Turkey and Iran has signed a Minute of Meeting to facilitate cooperation through a long-term program on Automotive Industry. A joint working group will be established to develop the long-term cooperation.

2. The Fifth Meeting of D-8 Working Group on Industrial Cooperation (WGIC) was held in Tehran, Iran, on February 28 – March 02 2010, back-to-back meeting with the First D-8 Ministerial Meeting on Industry.

During WGIC meeting, all the delegations discussed and approved all the Terms of Reference (ToR) of 11 Task Forces as recommended on previous D-8 WGIC meeting. In addition, Plan of Action: Cooperation on Industry & Tehran Declaration on D-8 Industrial Cooperation was adopted by WGIC meeting. Meanwhile, at ministerial meeting, The Ministers adopted Tehran Declaration.

3. As the one of coordinator Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) under 11 Task Forces of D-8 WGIC, Iran Small Industries & Industrial Parks Organization (ISIPO) hosted the First D-8 SMEs Governmental Bodies Meeting of D-8 Member Countries on 06-07 December 2010 in Tehran-Iran with the idea to examine how to implement the agreements and deepen the ties between D-8 Member Countries. In addition, the meeting has also considered that it is also timely opportune for D-8 governmental bodies to meet and discuss common efforts in responding towards the current potential market of D-8 SMEs.

4. As a follow up activity of the First D-8 SMEs Governmental Bodies Meeting of D-8 Member Countries on 06-07 December 2010 in Tehran-Iran, Iranian government held the SME Cluster Development Best Practice Workshop on 8-9 February 2011 in Tehran-Iran, which intended to familiarize the related persons from Member Countries with the concept and experiences of SME Cluster Development in Iran. The workshop commenced successfully with full participation from D-8 Member Countries and ECO.

5. Outcomes of the 5th D8 Governmental Bodies Meeting Held at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja on the 18th and 19th November, 2014.

The meeting among other discussed and recommended the followings:

• Challenges facing the SMEs are lack of ICT knowledge, poor business management, inability to formalise, multiple taxation, weak infrastructure, low access to finance, low market access, poor managerial skills, dearth of workspace. Low market access and others;
• Possibility of designating SME clusters as Priority Economic Zones (PEZ), interest sharing and guarantee by relevant government agencies, need for the convocation of SME annual conference coordinated by the D8;
• Need for SMEs to move towards sustainable enterprise using eco-friendly sources. This can be achieved through partnerships and alliance, which would accelerate the adoption of sustainable practices among member countries;
• Tackling SMEs knowledge and skill gaps in relation to green technologies, practices and business models and enhancing SMEs access to the emerging markets of environmental goods and services;
• Need for innovative ways to attract SMEs to go green and adopt renewable energy options thereby saving the environment;
• Enhancing private sector involvement in the development of SMEs;
• Upgrading database and statistics to reflect quality and quantity of the SMEs;
• Need a stronger synergy to exist between the Research and Development Institutions and MSMEs, leveraging on innovations to solve environmental;
• Encourage technology on recycling & re-use of waste and to increase buy in through effective sensitization on SMEs products;
• Government intervention on interest rates to reduce risk on the banks and stimulate more lending to SMEs;
• Knowledge sharing on machineries on that could destroy undegradable materials; and
• Accelerate the creation of Industrial Parks for SMEs among the member countries.

D-8 Organization has successfully held the 2nd Industrial Ministerial Meeting and 6th Working Group on Industrial Cooperation (WGIC) during 4-6 October 2011 in Istanbul, Turkey, to strengthen its industrial cooperation among member countries in order to find and secure opportunities for new investment and markets, with the recovery of the global economy continued robustly during the final months of 2010 and into early 2011.

D-8 has previously held its 1st Industrial Ministerial Meeting and the 5th Working Group on Industrial Cooperation (WGIC) in early 2010 in Tehran. At the Tehran Meeting D-8 has tried to utilize existing capacities in order to increase industrial cooperation within its ranks and improve its collective relative weight in the global industry. The “Tehran Declaration” provides a quite pragmatic approach to move in the direction of expanding industrial and technological cooperation amongst us. It also lays out a number of practical policies and measures towards increasing industrial and market opportunities as well as financial resources.

This meeting designed to take stock of D-8’s collective performance thus far, analyze the situation with each and every Task Force it holds under the Working Group on Industry, and adopt a very objective and realistic approach to their future work, including with respect to the current mechanism of the coordination of Task Forces shared between and among a number of countries – which, in certain cases, might have not proved conducive to achieving the desired pace of dynamism and progress. The emphasize is being put on a number of Task Forces, for example Petrochemical/Fertilizer and Food Production Task Forces, which need to be accorded special attention, since they directly serve to increase food security for and within the D-8 community with almost 1 billion population and quite serious pockets of challenge in this field.

D-8 has had agreement with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on a Memorandum of Understanding covering a wide range of areas of development-related activities, with special emphasis on agriculture and food security. In this special meeting in Istanbul, and at the margins of the Ministerial Meeting, D-8 has also signed M.O.U. with ECO (Economic Cooperation Organization).

Outcomes of the Task Force on Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) of the 4th Ministerial Meeting on Industrial Cooperation 26-27 January 2015, Tehran, Iran are as follows:

• All the Member States and shall forward their views and comments within one (1) month on the communication network draft. In case no feedback received, it will be considered as accepted;
• Nigeria will hold the SPX/ Cluster Development Training session in the last quarter of 2015 (to be confirmed);
• Turkey will hold an SME Financing Model Workshop in the second half of 2015;
• Iran will hold a Workshop on SME Market Development Models in the 3rd quarter of 2015;
• D-8 Members States will prepare a list of investment opportunities and share it among Members in order to attract investors;
• D-8 Member States will facilitate participation of small industries introduced by the SMEs organizations of Member States in relevant exhibitions;
• Turkey will chair SMEs Governmental Bodies Meeting for the next two years (2015-2016);
• The meeting finalized and proposed Statement on SMEs to be included in the Tehran Declaration;
• The meeting finalized and signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between SMEs Governmental Bodies at the 4th D-8 Ministerial Meeting on Industrial Cooperation;

Outcomes of the Task Force on SMEs of the 5th Ministerial Meeting on Industrial Cooperation held on 09- 11 May 2016 in Cairo, Egypt are as follows:

• Nigeria would hold the SPX/Cluster Development Training Workshop in 2017 (to be confirmed);
  • Iran to hold Workshop on SME Market Development Models in the third quarter of 2016;
  • Identifying focal points in SME organizations of Member States for better and direct communications;
  • Establishment of website for SMEs in D8 countries which will help in organizing business matchmaking, exchanging information and data, identifying business opportunities and coordinating SME governmental bodies activities in D8 countries;
  • Project in the field of SMEs capacity building;
  • Annual fair for SMEs product in any D-8 countries;
  • Project for green SMEs;
  • Project on women and youth economic empowerment and leadership development;
  • Project on annual report on SMEs profile in D-8 countries;
  • A study on best practices in SMEs support schemes within D-8 member states;

Outcomes of the Task Force on SMEs of the 6th Ministerial Meeting on Industrial Cooperation held on 14- 16 November 2017 in Abuja, Nigeria are as follows:

• Turkey offered to host an experience sharing workshop on cluster development and
  SMEs capacity building in 2018.
  • Iran offered to host SME Market Development Models and SPX/Venture Capital workshop
  in 2018.
  • The Taskforce resolved that two channels of communication should be established by each
  D-8 Member country – public and private (organized private sector (OPS) or business
  membership organizations (BMOs) that are responsible for SME development in their
  respective countries.
  • The taskforce resolved that the D-8 Secretariat should communicate modalities for each
  member country to make better use of the existing D-8 website (www.d8coop.com) to
  update information and structured data on SMEs; and to encourage the SMEs to cooperate
  and take advantage of the portal.
  • The taskforce resolved that from the 10th D-8 Summit, the hosting country should
  organize an SMEs fair as a sideline activity in each D-8 Summit.
  • Project for green SMEs;
  ✓ The taskforce resolved that D-8 Member States will be encouraged to share information on
  environmental friendly practices by SMEs and to exchange such ideas among themselves.
  The idea can be propounded by the Secretariat pursuing joint venture initiative with
  UNIDO and other similar organizations on dissemination of information to SMEs in D-8
  Member countries on green SMEs.
  • Nigeria offered to host an experience sharing workshop showcasing some of its initiatives
  on women and youth empowerment as well as its entrepreneurial and leadership programs
  in 2018.
  • The taskforce observed that the existing D-8 website should serve as a compendium on
  SMEs as such reports of this nature may be extracted from the website.
  • The taskforce observed SMEs support schemes activities should go alongside the
  proposed capacity building and cluster development workshop to be hosted by Turkey in
  2018.

  • The taskforce realized the challenges that SMEs face with access to finance and put forward
  a proposal for establishment of D-8 SME development bank. Iran was requested to put up
  a concept paper on the establishment and operation of a D-8 development bank for
  consideration, deliberation and onward submission to the D-8 secretariat.