The Secretary-General of the D-8, Dato’ Ku Jaafar Ku Shaari paid a working visit to Malaysia from 1st to 5th April, 2019. During his visit he paid courtesy calls on the following dignitaries:
The Secretary-General along with his delegation were well received by the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Kuala Lumpur Airport and the arrangements with regards to the visit were highly commendable.
The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammad lend his full support to the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation and appreciated the Secretary-General’s efforts and leadership capabilities. Mr. Mahathir while appreciating the wisdom of the Secretary General for introducing new initiatives to the Organization, stresses the need to reform the governance system of the Member States and to enhance cooperation in all existing and other areas such as management and governance and the petroleum sector. The Secretary-General briefed the premier on the latest development and activities of the Organization and also updated him on the existing areas of cooperation of the Organization. The Secretary-General also invited the Prime Minister to attend the upcoming 10th D-8 Summit scheduled to take place in Dhaka, People’s Republic of Bangladesh tentatively in the fourth quarter of 2019 as one of the remaining founding fathers of the D-8 Organization.
During the Secretary-General’s visit, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia H.E. Dato’ Saifuddin Bin Abdullah, warmly welcomed him to his office on 2nd of April, 2019. The Secretary-General thanked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for arranging the official visit and appreciated the Minister for his support to the Organization.
The Secretary-General briefed the Minister on current developments and progress on the activities of the Organization as well as newly introduced initiatives such as D-8 Payment Card, D-8 Designated Airports, D-8 Industrial Zones, D-8 Creative Economy and Financial Center, D-8 Clearing House, D-8 International University, D-8 Network of Pioneers for Research and Innovation (D-8 NPRI), D-8 Health partnership and social protection programme and D-8 barter trade.
The Foreign Minister appreciated the vision and dynamism of the Secretary-General and lend his full support to the Organization and wished to see the Organization more effective for all Member States. He also called for the establishment of a framework that will offer equal trade and economic opportunity for all the Member States.
The Secretary-General also paid a courtesy call on H.E. Dr. Maszlee bin Malik, Minister of Education of Malaysia on 2nd of April, 2019 at his office. Dr. Maszlee warmly received the Secretary-General and his delegation to his office along with three Vice Chancellors of the D-8 NPRI Universities in Malaysia. The Secretary-General informed the Minister of the establishment of the D-8 International University in Hamadan, Islamic Republic of Iran and that its future course of cooperation will principally be based on science, technology and innovation. The Secretary-General also invited the Minister to attend the first Board of Trustees Meeting of the University scheduled to take place on 30th April, 2019 in Tehran. The Secretary-General also updated the Minister on the Secretariat’s new initiative called D-8 Network of Pioneers for Research and innovation and thanked him for Malaysia’s Support to the initiative and the introduction of the country’s top universities to be a part of the network. The wisdom behind introducing this is to bring intellectuality to the Organization and support the D-8 public and private sectors by utilizing their good research and innovative works carried out by these institutions.
The Minister appreciated and applauded the Secretary-General’s wisdom and efforts to establish a joint intellectual fraternity network aimed at promoting the sharing of knowledge and experiences in academic environments of the Member States. He wished the Secretary-General success and assured him of Malaysia’s commitment and readiness to take part in the initiative as an active Member. Dr. Maszlee said he looks forward to seeing the Member States well advanced in research and innovation that can contribute immensely to the economic progress of the people in general.
The Minister of Health of Malaysia, H.E. Datuk Seri Dr. Dzulkefly Bin Ahmad, welcomed the Secretary-General and his delegation to his office in Kuala Lumpur on 3rd of April, 2019. Dr. Dzulkefly shared his positive views and comments on the D-8 Health Partnership and Social Protection initiative and assured of his Ministry’s readiness to cooperate and work with the Organization in this regard.
The Secretary-General has given the comprehensive briefing to the Minister and his delegation on the initiative and praised the willingness of the Nigerian Government to host the D-8 Health Partnership Secretariat in Abuja, Nigeria. The Secretary-General also thanked the Minister and his team for their readiness to support the programme as Malaysia is one of the D-8 Member-States with the most advanced health sectors that can be a role model for the other Member States.
H.E. Dato’ Sri Muhammad Shahrul Ikram Bin Yaakob, Secretary-General of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia, has also hosted the Secretary-General at his office in Putrajaya on 3rd of April, 2019. The Secretary-General congratulated Dato’ Sri Muhammad Shahrul Ikram for his appointment as the Secretary-General of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia. He described his appointment to one of the highest offices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia as well deserved and wish him best of luck in his future endeavors. The two interlocutors discussed current developments in the Organization and Mr. Ikram was impressed with the progress recorded and lend his unflinching support to the Secretary-General and the D-8 Organization.
Dato’ Ku Jaafar Ku Shaari also briefed the Secretary-General regarding his official visit to Malaysia and updated him on the progress made on it. He also thanked the Secretary-General for the excellent arrangements made by his Ministry in order to make this visit successful and result oriented. As part of his official working visit to Malaysia, the Secretary-General paid a courtesy call on H.E. Datuk Seri Mohammed Redzuan Mohammed Yusof, Minister of Entrepreneur Development on 4th of April, 2019 at his office in kuala Lumpur.
The Minister warmly welcomed the Secretary-General and his delegation. He acknowledged the Secretary-General’s efforts and his wisdom to expand the cooperation to unexplored sectors. He showed his interest and willingness to work together with the D-8 on some new projects and was optimistic to hosting the first D-8 SME Summit in Kuala Lumpur in 2019. He also stresses the need to explore the potentials of the Global Halal market which is worth USD 4trillion now and expected to register a tremendous growth in the future. The Minister expressed his country’s readiness to share its expertise and experience in the Halal Sector with interested D-8 Member States.
The Secretary-General appreciated and applauded the positive gesture of the minister and informed him about his future initiatives and plan of action to enhance the cooperation in this very important and lucrative Sector.
H.E Datuk Mohamaddin Bin Ketapi, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture also received the Secretary-General of D-8 and his delegation at his office on 4th of April, 2019 in Putrajaya. The Secretary-General appreciated the minister for kindly and graciously accepting to host the second D-8 Senior Officials and Ministerial Meeting on Tourism scheduled to take place from 18-20th November, 2018.
The Secretary-General assured the Minister of the Member State’s willingness to participate in the Meeting and that the Secretariat will support the Ministry in order to make the event result oriented and successful. The Minister appreciated the Secretary-General’s efforts and expressed his eagerness to share Malaysia’s experience and expertise in the field of tourism with other Member States. He also shared data regarding the inflow of tourists into Malaysia in 2018. He said D-8 citizens constitute about 20 per cent of the entire tourist arrivals.
The Minister also acknowledged the need to enhance the cooperation in the tourism Sector with other Member States. The Secretary-General took note of the Minister’s guidance and informed him that he will coordinate with the Member States and all stakes holders to ensure their affective presence at the event. He also informed the Minister that he is working with the government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to organize a meeting on D-8 visa simplification procedures in order to increase tourism and business traffic among the D-8 Member States.
The Secretary-General also updated the Minister on his newly introduced initiative called D-8 Designated airports in all Member States in order to increase business to business and people to people contacts. He also informed the Minister of the D-8 Payment card that can be helpful for D-8 citizens to make transactions using their respective local currencies while they travel to D-8 Member States. The Secretary-General pointed out that serious efforts have been made and we are recording progress in all our initiatives. The response from the Member States and their relevant institutions are generally positive and timely. These steps, once realized, will help us to integrate the D-8 citizens and enhance our cooperation to the next level.
He added that one of the D-8 priority areas of cooperation is Trade and without participation of the private sector, we cannot achieve our goals and enhance our cooperation that is why after being appointed as D-8 Secretary-General, the first thing he did was to make efforts to energize and strengthen the D-8 Chamber of Commerce and Industries (D-8CCI).
The Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) is currently presiding the D-8 CCI and recently host the first General Assembly of D-8 CCI and adopted its Statue and Plan of Action on 3rd of November, 2019 in Antalya, Turkey on the sidelines of the 18th D-8 Council of the Foreign Ministers meeting.
The Minister also extended an invitation to the Secretary-General to participate in the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Conference scheduled for August this year in Kuala Lumpur. During his visit to Malaysia, the Secretary-General also paid a visit to Dato’ Low Kian Chuan, Secretary-General of the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (NCCIM) at his office in Kuala Lumpur on 1st of April, 2019.
The Secretary-General of the D-8 congratulated Dato’ Low Kian Chuan for his appointment as a Secretary General of NCCIM and wished him success in his future endeavors. He also called on the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia to play active role in D-8 CCI and also requested him to encourage their members to participate in the upcoming D-8 SME Summit scheduled in 2019 in Kuala Lumpur. Dato’ Low assured his full support to the D-8 Organization and D-8 CCI and its activities and also his willingness to participate actively in all the programmes and events of D-8. The Secretary-General also paid a visit to the Malaysian National News Agency (BERNAMA) on 4th of April, 2019 and Datuk Seri Azman Ujang, Chairman of BERNAMA welcomed the Secretary-General and his delegation to his office in Kuala Lumpur. This visit is part of the Secretary-General’s visibility drive. The Secretary-General gave a detailed account of his working visit to Malaysia and the current developments in the Organization as well as newly introduced initiatives and future plans to the chairman and his team. He expressed the desire to work with BERNAMA as an official partner that will highlight the activities of the D-8 Organization. Datuk Seri Azman praised the Secretary-General’s vision and assured of his full support to the D-8 Organization and expressed the interest of his Agency to work closely with the D-8 as one of its official media partners. The chairman also wishes to sign a Memorandum of Understanding in the near future in order to strengthen relations between the two esteemed organizations.
Finally, the Secretary-General Paid a visit to Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) along with a business delegation from Turkey on 5th April, 2019 in Kuala Lumpur. Mr. Arham Abdul Rahman, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Malaysian Investment Development Authority welcomed the Secretary-General and his team and expressed his happiness to receive the delegation. The Secretary-General informed MIDA on the latest developments in the D-8 Organization and asked for their support for the new initiative called D-8 Industrial Zones. Mr. Arham was very positive and expressed his hope to actively participate in the new initiative of D-8 and willing to work with D-8 in all fields of cooperation where their expertise can be leveraged.
The working visit of the Secretary-General to Malaysia from 1st to 5th April, 2019 was highly successful.
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