D-8 Secretary-General, Seyed Ali Mohammad Mousavi met with UN Deputy Secretary-General, Mr. Jan Eliasson and his accompanied delegation on 21 November 2013 in Istanbul. During the meeting, Dr. Mousavi gave brief information about the D-8 cooperation areas, achievements and future projects. He expressed that D-8 will complete the first phase of its life-cycle by the 9th Summit in 2014 which will be held in Turkey. This will mark the services provided by each and every Member Country in the decisive role as the Chairman of the Organization. In the upcoming Summit, the vital role of the Chairman will be rotated again to Turkey, the initiator of the organization. The start of the second phase of D-8 life-cycle will be a turning point for Developing-8 Countries to move in a manner commensurate with the requirements of developments and the pace of changes surrounding its individual members. “Within this context, I strongly believe that it will be the most appropriate occasion for the Organization to shift from the current situation as I call it “policy coordination” to a new phase which I want to name as “project implementation”, he stated. 

During the meeting, both sides discussed the plans to create and implement future cooperation between the two organizations. UN Deputy Secretary-General, Mr. Jan Eliasson expressed his pleasure to be in Istanbul and meeting with D-8 Secretary-General. “We are working with many international organizations with which we have already signed Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs). We hope to work with D-8 Organization on many cooperation areas”, he added.

“From the very inception, D-8 has been eager for the establishment and promotion of liaison and cooperation with other regional and multilateral institutions and organizations. Conclusion of MoUs with Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) represents the outcome of the activities undertaken since the beginning” said Secretary-General Mousavi, as he addressed the Mr. Jan Eliasson during the meeting. He continued, “During this second term, D-8 Organization is going to strengthen its cooperation and will build strategic partnerships with other international and regional organizations, which are especially active in D-8 priority areas, such as OIC, ECO, UNIDO, UNCTAD, FAO, UNWTO, ITC, IFAD, ICAO, AARDO, ASEAN, IRENA etc.”

He also gave information about the partnership between African – Asian Rural Development Organization (AARDO) and D-8. “The first step towards this partnership is through establishing constant contact, participating in relevant meetings with the aim to promote cooperation, inter alia, by signing of MoU, or by other forms of cooperation. Now D-8 and AARDO have finalized the draft of an MoU and are planning to sign the document in Abuja during the Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture on 6 December 2013. We are confident that the signing of the MoU will pave the way for further cooperation between the two organizations”, he concluded.  

 Secretary-General Mousavi expressed his pleasure for the first high-level talks held between the D-8 and the UN. He said that as a young and promising organization, D-8 looks forward to an early opportunity to working closely with the United Nations. Therefore D-8 has started to get observer status in the United Nations’ General Assembly. 

“In this regard, I will seek Member Countries’ assistance on obtaining a standing invitation from United Nations to participate as a permanent observer in the sessions and the work of the UN General Assembly during our upcoming Commission and Council of Foreign Ministers meetings. With the assistance of Pakistan as the current Chair of D-8, and Turkey, which is the next chair of D-8, I am confident that we will direct D-8 toward achieving this critical objective through their precious work and with other Member Countries’ support” he finally emphasized.