Federal Republic of Nigeria hosted 6th D-8 Ministerial Meeting on Industry from 14th -16th November, 2017 in Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja. Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria would grace the opening session of the 6th D-8 Ministerial Meeting on Industry on 14th November, 2017.

Industry Ministers of Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria and Turkey as well as the Deputy Minister of Iran were, among others, attending the event. The 3-day meeting, hosted by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment of the Federal Republic of Nigeria were attended by government officials and private sector operators as well as representatives of international organizations. 

Dr. Seyed Ali Mohammad Mousavi, D-8 Secretary-General registered his profound gratitude and sincere appreciation to the esteemed Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for kindly and graciously hosting the Ministerial meeting on Industry just few weeks after the Ninth D-8 Summit that was held on 20th October, 2017 in Turkey. He added that the event will add immense value to efforts in furthering cooperative partnership as well as serve as an opportunity for our Industry Ministers to review progress and prepare strategies to achieve the goals set by the D-8 leaders at the Ninth D-8 Summit.  

Dr. Mousavi also drew the attention of the D-8 Industry Ministers to the theme of the Ninth D-8 Summit, “Expanding Opportunities through Cooperation,” and emphasized the need for greater participation of the private sector including SMEs in fostering D-8 Cooperation and  the “D-8 Istanbul Plan of Action”, where leaders vowed to take necessary measures so that the private sector in D-8 Member States is encouraged to significantly engage in commercial and economic activities, including private investment, movement of capital and participation in projects to be undertaken by the Member States. He also stressed the pivotal role of SMEs in both developed and developing economies in terms of employment generation, economic growth, poverty alleviation, economic empowerment and the wider distribution of wealth in general and in industrial development in particular, he pointed out two very important issues, one is strong D-8 SMEs networking and SMEs market development and financing model.

The 6th Meeting on Industry is set to revisit earlier decisions and review the outcomes as well as consider restructuring the framework of cooperation, including reorganising the Working Groups and Task Forces. Discussions on projects and/or programmes in order to translate the policies into actions is also on the high agenda.  

It is important to point out that Industry has been identified as one of six priority areas of D-8 cooperation. So far, six meetings of D-8 Industry ministers have been held in Bangladesh, Egypt, Iran (twice), Turkey and now Nigeria.