The Republic of Turkey, as a current chair of the Organization, and People’s Republic of Bangladesh co-chaired the virtual Session of the Special Commission meeting which was held on 11th August 2020.
The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, H.E. Ambassador Faruk Kaymakci and the Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh, H.E. Ambassador Masud Bin Momen delivered their opening remarks and welcomed the D-8 Secretary-General H.E. Ambassador Dato Ku jaafar Ku Shaari, D-8 Commissioners and other Delegates from the Member States to the meeting.
The Secretary-General also addressed the gathering and updated the Member States on the activities and initiatives of the Secretariat. He especially informed them of the steps taken by the Secretariat and D-8 Health and Social protection programme office (D-8 HSP) in order to provide support and strengthen cooperation among the Member States in response to the COVID-19 crises.
D-8 Commissioner for Bangladesh briefed the meeting on the programme and events planned by Bangladesh for the upcoming Tenth D-8 Summit. He also informed the meeting that Bangladesh is planning to host the virtual Summit tentatively in December 2020/January 2021. However, the final dates and progamme outline will be shared with the Secretariat in due course.
Furthermore, the Secretary-General also updated the meeting on the project initiatives that are to be approved/ launched at the Summit. They are D-8 Payment Card, D-8 Special Industrial Zone, D-8 Network of Pioneer for Research and Innovation (D-8 NPRI), D-8 Creative Economy and Financial Center (D-8 CEFC) and D-8 Barter Trade Cooperation.
Member States also welcomed the proposal put forward by Bangladesh for the establishment of a Working Group in order to review the economic adversities of COVID-19 and come up with proposals on addressing same in post pandemic scenario.
The meeting also decided that another virtual meeting would be convened soon to deliberate and finalize the Tenth Summit documents namely D-8 Decennial Roadmap 2020-2030 and Dhaka Declaration.