The Developing Eight Organization for Economic Cooperation (D-8) and the Islamic Organization for Food Security (IOFS), a specialized institution of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), have signed a ‘Joint Action Plan’ for enhancing collaboration in agriculture and food security. The signing ceremony took place on Sunday, 1 October 2023, on the margin of the Sixth Session of the IOFS General Assembly meeting in Doha, State of Qatar.

Ambassador Isiaka Abdulqadir Imam represented the D-8 Organization as its Secretary General during the signing ceremony. At the same time, Dr Masoud Al-Marri, Chairman of the Executive Board of IOFS, signed on behalf of his organization.

This Joint Action Plan, it could be recalled, is a precursor to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Institutional Cooperation earlier signed between the two Organizations on 17 March 2023 in Nouakchott, Mauritania.

In his brief remarks, Ambassador Imam noted that the MoU and the Joint Action Plan were meant to provide a solid foundation for stronger and more tangible collaboration between his organization, the D-8, and IOFS. He harped on the essential collaboration for his organization in its efforts to address the challenges of deficiency in agricultural production and food security in D-8 member countries.

Speaking further, the Secretary-General said, ‘Those programs we have identified for implementation under the joint action plan will serve as key performance indicators to measure and gauge the effectiveness of the MoU.’ He added that signing the MoU is one thing while implementing it is totally a different thing. He expressed his optimism that the joint action plan would provide a clear indicator for implementing the MoU.

Ambassador Imam hoped that the outcome of this collaboration would significantly strengthen the D-8 agricultural cooperation among Member States, adding that their agricultural and food security cooperation is among the most advanced in the world.

Finally, the head of the D-8 organization further assured that the action plan would commence in earnest, as some member countries of his organization are fully ready to kick start the implementation process.

The said Joint Action Plan will cover 12 specific agricultural and food security programs, and they will be implemented from 2024 until 2026.

The D-8 Organization is an inter-governmental organization comprised of Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Türkiye. Founded in 1997, the D-8 operates primarily in the economic realm, including agriculture and food security.