The D-8 Secretary-General, His Excellency Ambassador Dato’ Ku Jaafar Ku Shaari was invited by Institute of Tun Dr. Mahathir’s Thoughts in cooperation with the School of Government, Northern University of Malaysia to share his valuable thoughts at the Leadership lecture series on Islamic International Trade for Sustainable Socio-Economic Development from the D-8 Perspective.
At the beginning of the talk, the D-8 Secretary-General shared his experience with the audience regarding the potential of Islamic finance that can play a crucial role in supporting the Sustainable Development Goals. He highlighted all the Islamic projects, initiatives and involvements when he was appointed as a Commissioner of the D-8 and OIC during 2001- 2003 such as the establishment of Halal Standard in the Muslim world, Islamic Banking/Takaful and how the Muslim world can use the gold value for the settlement of trade dispute.
Then Ambassador Dato’ Ku Jaafar enlightened the audience the Islamic Trade from the D-8 perspective. D-8 countries has huge economic potential. He quoted PricewaterhouseCoopers study, which is very exciting that all D-8 member countries were ranked among the top 24 out of 30 countries in terms of economic rankings. The combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of these member states will be something close to $40 trillion. This will make the D-8 as a group, the third strongest economic power house apart from China and India. Ambassador Dato’ Ku Jaafar encourages member states to go all out because we will be the new emerging economies by 2050.
He also mentioned that since assumption of the office of the Secretary-General of D-8 in 2018, the organization has focused on many new initiatives and projects that are aimed at making the D-8 more dynamic and result-oriented organization such as the establishment of the D-8 CCI, operationalization of the D-8 Preferential Trade Agreement (D-8 PTA), implementing Visa and Customs Agreement, the D-8 Payment Card, establishment of the D-8 Creative Economy and Financial Center, the D-8 Network of Pioneers for Research and Innovation (D-8 NPRI) and D-8 Barter Trade system. He emphasized that when all these institutions and tools will work together as an ecosystem, D-8 will emerge as an Economic Powerhouse. D-8 as a platform will take place a new world order in Muslim world. D-8 is focused on how to increase the standard of living of the eight member states and of their citizens.