The students from International Relations Community of Gothenburg University visited D-8 Headquarters in Istanbul on 15th November 2013. D-8 Secretary-General, Seyed Ali Mohammad Mousavi received the delegation and gave a comprehensive presentation on D-8 comprising the activities, areas of cooperation, achievements as well as challenges of the Organization. 

Secretary-General Mousavi advised the students on taking the opportunity whenever possible, to practice what they learn in the classroom by using them in the real-world. During the presentation, he focused mainly on D-8 trade activities and referred to Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA), Visa and Custom Agreements as well as the MoU on civil aviation sectors which are considered as the prominent achievements of the D-8. 

He also highlighted that D-8 – with a combined population of over 1.0 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 had made important progress in the intra-trade section which has reached to almost 150 Billion USD in 2012.  “We are looking forward to achieving the target of $500 billion for intra-trade, which has been set by our respective governments for 2018”, added Dr. Mousavi. 

After the presentation, students had the opportunity to ask questions on D-8 trade figures, social welfare, industrial cooperation, environmental problems and future projects, scientific cooperation, etc. Dr. Mousavi answered the questions one by one and underlined the potential scientific researches in D-8 universities.

He also emphasized to expedite scientific research and active collaboration among education and scientific research communities of D-8 Member Countries by exchanging researchers. He mentioned that D-8 is required to further highlight the role of science and technology in the economic development, to orient the youth towards scientific professions and activities. “We, as D-8 countries, need to forward some policy actions to attain further progress in this important field, including encouraging research and developing programmes, improving educational institutions and facilitating academic interaction and exchange of knowledge among academic institutions in the Member Countries,” he added.  

Concluding his presentation, Dr. Mousavi pointed out that “We shall prove to the governments and decision-makers that science and scientific methods are the most efficient means of achieving developments. To this end, I will suggest a meeting among D-8 higher education Ministers to discuss the expansion and improvement of the educational and scientific cooperation between D-8 Member Countries.” 

Photos and news of the meeting can be viewed from the link below: