D-8 Secretary-General, Dr. Seyed Ali Mohammad Mousavi, paid a visit to Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM) and and met with the Chairman, Mr. Mehmet Buyukeksi on 18 March 2014 at TIM’s headquarters in Istanbul. Dr. Mousavi exchanged views with Mr Buyukeksi on trade cooperation between Turkey and D-8 countries. During the meeting, Dr. Mousavi underlined that with the upcoming event of 9th Summit in 2014, in Turkey,  the vital role of the Presidency will be rotated again to Turkey for the second time, which he considered would be a turning point for D-8.

Secretary-General Mousavi expressed that as D-8 is an economic organization, trade is backbone of its cooperation and the D-8 leaders set the target of increasing the intra trade up to 500 billion USD until 2018. “If we look at the potential of each Member State of D-8, this target is achivable by the implementation of D-8 main instruments, the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA), Visa and Custom Agreements and also by improved linkages and efficient networking between D-8 private sector”, he said. 

During the meeting he also highlighted D-8 trade volume and the figures: “The volume of D-8 intra-trade increased impressively from US$ 15 billion in 1997 to almost US$ 150 billion in 2012. By percentage share to the volume of D-8 total trade, growth of D-8 intra-trade increased from 3.4% in 1997 to 8.2% in 2012, which represents a solid improvement”,  he added.  

Mr. Mehmet Buyukeksi, the Chairman of TIM, expressed that in order to increase D-8 intra-trade and reach the 2018 target, the implementation of D-8 Agreements on Trade, Visa and Custom play vital role. “Furthermore, for reaching this target we need the active involvement of the private sector of D-8 Member States. We should also encourge D-8 private sector for more trade among each other”, he expressed. He noted that the main issue would be how to  activate the business community and at the same time pushing authories for resolution of the current problems on trade. 

He finally underlined that the share of Turkish exports to D-8 countries increased from US$ 2,2 billion in 1997 to almost US$ 15 Billion in 2012. “These figures showes that the volume of Turkey’s export to the D-8 boosted up to seven times during 1997-2012” Mr. Buyukeksi concluded.  

Photos of this event can be viewed from the below link:

[www.flickr.com/photos/developing8/sets/72157642543884235/]