The D-8 Secretary General, Ambassador Dato’ Ku Jaafar Ku Shaari paid a visit to the Headquarters of the United Nations Technology Bank for Least Developed Countries, in Gebze, Turkey and met with the Managing Director of the institution H.E. Mr. Joshua Setipa. The Secretary General was also accompanied by Director II, Ms. Rasha Hamdy who is in charge of Economy, Implementation and External Relations at the D-8 Secretariat.

The Secretary General, in his statement, briefed the meeting regarding the activities of D-8 Organization and shared some informative details and figures regarding the priority areas and initiatives of the Organization such as Research and Development Center, D-8 International University, D-8 Network of Pioneer for Research and Innovation (D-8 NPRI), cooperation with the Islamic World Science Citation Center (ISC), D-8 Technology Transfer and Exchange of Network (D-8 TTEN), D-8 Health and Social Protection Programme (D-8 HSPP), D-8 Payment Card System and D-8 Creative Economy and Financial Center.

He also mentioned the existing cooperation of D-8 Organization with some of the United Nations bodies such as UNDP, UNCTAD and IFAD.

On his part, the Managing Director of the Technology Bank shared with participants brief information regarding the establishment and activities of the Technology Bank. He pointed out that the Bank works with a wide range of priorities that simply encompass most of the areas of development, and it pays special attention throughout its work to Gender equality,climate change mitigation and adaptation as well as scientific research to ensure the realization of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). Moreover, he stressed the importance of research and development and technology transfer for the effective and efficient activities.

Furthermore, the meeting discussed the possible areas and means to commence a new collaboration between the two institutions. At the end of the meeting, the parties agreed on commencing collaboration between the two sides by signing an MoU in a specific area such as Agriculture and Food Security.