The D-8 Secretary-General is the Special Speaker at the Kazan Summit 2019.

The Secretary-General of D-8 Organization, His Excellency Ambassador Dato’ Ku Jaafar Ku Shaari is paying a visit to the Republic of Tatarstan from 24-26 April, 2019 to honour a special invitation of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan, H.E. Rustam Minnikhanov, to attend the 11th International Economic Summit holding in Kazan, Russia. He is accompanied by Executive Assistant, Mr. M. Bilal Khan during the visit.

During this visit, the Secretary-General met with the President of the Republic of Tatarstan, H.E. Rustam Minnikhanov at the Kazan Kremlin on 24th April, 2019. On the same day, he also visited the Kazan Helicopters Factory and Kazan Aircraft Plant in order to see the progress which Tatarstan has made in the area of aircraft manufacturing.

On the second day of the visit, Ambassador Ku Jaafar, as a speaker, will attend the 11th International Economic Summit ‘’Russia-Islamic World: Kazan Summit 2019’’ which is an international economic summit to be graced by many high-level dignitaries from different parts of the world.

The Secretary-General, in his statement which is enclosed, expressed his gratitude and appreciation to the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan and Tatarstan Investment Development Agency for hosting the event. Then, he briefed the audience regarding the D-8 Organization and its activities since its establishment. He also mentioned the economic and demographic indicators of the Organization including intra-trade volume, GDP figures and population of the Member States in order to demonstrate the positive change in the past 20 years of the existence of Organization. The Secretary-General also spoke on the new initiatives of the D-8 Organization such as D-8 Payment Card, D-8 Clearing House, D-8 Industrial and Economic Zones, D-8 Airport Association, D-8 International University and the adoption of barter trading system. Finally, he stressed the importance of the Russian Federation as an economic partner for the D-8 countries by providing some economic data regarding trade between the two sides.

On the third day of the programme, on 26th April, 2019, the Secretary-General and his delegation will pay a visit to the Tatarstan Investment Development Agency in order to meet with its management. Then, he will complete the programme with a visit to the Innopolis Special Economic Zone (SEZ Innopolis).

Statement by the D-8 Secretary-General at the Plenary Session of the 11th International Economic Summit “Russia – Islamic World: Kazan Summit 2019”.