The Third Meeting of the Senior Officials on Tourism Cooperation of the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation was held virtually on 10th March, 2021. It was hosted by the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The meeting was attended by the Permanent Secretary and other officials of the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Secretary-General and other staff of the D-8 Secretariat, senior officials and representatives of the relevant authorities and institutions of the D-8 Member States and representative of the World Tourism Forum Institute.

The meeting started with the welcome remarks delivered by the Permanent Secretary, Her Excellency Dr. Ifeoma Adaora Anyanwutaku and opening speech by the D-8 Secretary-General His Excellency, Ambassador Dato’ Ku Jaafar Ku Shaari.

In her welcome remarks, the Permanent Secretary briefed the meeting regarding the activities of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on tourism and emphasized the key role of tourism sector in the sustainable development and economic growth of the Member States. She also encouraged the Member States to enlarge and deepen the existing cooperation among the Member States in the tourism sector.

In his speech, the D-8 Secretary-General spoke about the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in various areas, especially on tourism cooperation, by sharing facts and figures. In this context, he pointed out the need for the implementation of the Comprehensive Strategy on Tourism Cooperation and the Crescent Moon Initiative adopted at the Second Senior Officials and Ministerial Meetings on Tourism Cooperation in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in November

2019 in order to overcome the obstacles posed by the pandemic and also advance the D-8 tourism agenda.

He also emphasized the importance of the tourism sector for the Member States of the D-8 Organization and shared details of the activities that the Secretariat is undertaking in this context such as establishing cooperation with World Tourism Forum Institute (WTFI) in order to improve tourism products, increase tourist arrivals and augment tourism receipts; and establishing D-8 Designated Airports in order to promote people to people and business to business contacts as well as tourism and travel facilitation among all Member States.

Furthermore, he pointed out that the Organization’s aim is for information and ideas to be shared, best practices to be exchanged and streams of investments to flow across political borders of the Member States with fluid ease so that D-8 can compete favorably with best-in-class tourist destinations around the world.

The event continued with the views and statements of the representatives of the D-8 Member States on the activities and implementation status of the D-8 Tourism Strategic Plan (D8TSP) and the Crescent Moon Initiative. They also shared their views and ideas on Tourism activities and future plans as well as the current state of the travel and tourism industry in their respective countries in the face of the Covid-19 challenges.

The dates and venues of the forthcoming 3rd D-8 Tourism Ministerial Meeting and 4th D-8 Senior Officials Meeting on Tourism were discussed. In this context, it was decided that the Ministerial and Senior Officials Meetings are to be held in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in 2021.

The meeting ended with the adoption of the meeting report and closing remarks of the Chairman of the Meeting and the D-8 Secretary-General.

Link: Statement of the D-8 Secretary-General