Dr. Seyed AliMohammad Mousavi, the D-8 Secretary-General, Malatya, Turkey on 13 November 2015 to attend the UCLG-MEWA Council meeting. He was warmly received by the authorities and institutions. He met Mr. Süleyman Kamç?, the Governor of Malatya, Mr. Ahmet Çak?r the Mayor of Malatya, and Prof. Cemil ÇEL?K, Rector of ?nönü University during the visit. He thanked the top representatives of the Turkish government and, through them, the Government of the Republic of Turkey for their continuous support toward the D-8. Dr. Mousavi’s visit to Malatya, one of the important provinces with enormous economic potentials, took place as part of the Organization’s external relations to establish and nurture effective partnership with local authorities and institutions in Turkey. 

Apart from these meetings, Dr. Mousavi addressed the audience in a seminar at the ?nonü University. The D-8 Secretary-General interacted and exchanged with academicians and students. He highlighted that the D-8 with a combined population of over 1 (one) billion and a market size of more than $1 trillion, is set to emerge as one of the world’s most promising trade blocs and has achieved impressive progress in intra-trade of 150 Billion USD by 2012.  “We are looking forward to achieving the target of $500 billion for intra-trade by 2018, which has been set by our leaders”, added Dr. Mousavi.