On the occasion of the 45th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the D-8 Secretary-General, Ambassador Dato’ Ku Jaafar Ku Shaari met Dr. Md. Akhtaruzzaman, Hon’ble Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University on 6th May 2018 at the latter’s office in Dhaka. Secretary-General was warmly welcomed by the Vice Chancellor.

Dr. Akhtaruzzaman congratulated the Secretary-General for his appointment as the new Secretary-General of D-8 and expressed confidence in his ability to steer the affairs of the Organization successfully.
Ambassador Ku Jaafar congratulated the Vice Chancellor for Bangladesh’s graduation from the status of least developed country (LDC) to a developing one. He informed Vice Chancellor of the latest developments taking place within the Organization, particularly the Istanbul Declaration 2017 and D-8 Istanbul Plan of Action adopted at the 9th D-8 Summit held in October 2017 in Istanbul.

Both interlocutors discussed a wide range of issues including the initiative of Iran for the establishment of D-8 University affiliated to the Hamadan University as an associated body of the D-8. The Secretary-General mentioned that D-8 Member States had researches in many areas. From the scientific production report, it could be seen that some of the Member States are very good in clinical medicine, engineering, chemistry, material science, environment technology and physics. Thus, there is the need to establish a network among the finest universities in D-8 Member States as well as student exchange programme. He also informed that a special D-8 Journal will be published in order to introduce D-8 Member State’s innovations and researches. Thus, the Secretary-General sought Dhaka University’s contribution in the D-8 Journal. In order to concretize the mode of cooperation, an MoU will be signed among the D-8 universities.