In a recent working visit to Ankara-Turkey, D-8 Secretary General, Dr. Seyed Ali Mohammad Mousavi, had a fruitful discussion with the Ministers of Agriculture and Transportation. At first, Dr. Mousavi paid a courtesy visit to the Minister of Food, Agriculture and Livestock Mr. Mehmet Mehdi Eker. During the visit, Dr. Mousavi pointed out that, “The share of agriculture in D-8 trade volume has increased, but that does not reflect the true potential of D-8. Turkey is one of the top countries in the world with the highest agricultural income thus Turkey should lead D-8 agriculture cooperation”

  He added that D-8 member countries targeted trade volume around $500 billion in 2018 according to the D-8 Roadmap and in order to reach this target, the share of agriculture must be increased in D-8 trade volume.  Dr. Mousavi invited Minister Eker to the 4th D-8 Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and Food Security which is going to be held in Abuja-Nigeria.

Moreover, the meeting focused on the enhancement of cooperation in agriculture and food security among D-8 member countries and discussed the activities of Working Groups on Seed Bank, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Fertilizer, Animal Feed and Trade Standards. 

In his visit to Ankara, D-8 Secretary-General also met with Minister of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications Mr. Binali Y?ld?r?m with whom he had exchange of views on D-8 transport cooperation. He emphasized the significance of the area of transportation for D-8 cooperation and revealed his discomfort on this issue of not holding a D-8 Ministerial Meeting in this crucial cooperation field since the establishment of the Organization. He added that while there remain many diverse means of transportation such as railways, shipping, road, logistics etc, until now D-8 cooperation has been limited to civil aviation. 

Minister Y?ld?r?m recognized the importance of continued close collaboration and cooperation within D-8 countries.  He fully supported Secretary General’s view on the efforts to establish new working groups and he graciously offered to host a Ministerial Meeting on transportation in early September in this year in Istanbul.

Photos of the meetings can be viewed from the following gallery: [http://www.flickr.com/photos/developing8/sets/72157633116773750/page3/]