Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi participated in the 9th Summit of the Developing Eight Organization (D-8) held in Istanbul, Turkey on 20 October 2017. The Summit coincided with the 20th Anniversary of the establishment of organization in 1997.
 
            The Summit meeting was preceded by the 17th D-8 Council of Ministers meeting on 19 October 2017. During the meeting, the Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Khawaja Muhammad Asif handed over the Chair of D-8 Council of Ministers to H.E. Mevlut Cavusoglu, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Turkey. 
 
            In his statement at the Inauguration of the D-8 Summit, the Prime Minister, in his capacity as outgoing D-8 Chair, highlighted the achievements of D-8 organization under Pakistan’s chairmanship, including adoption of D-8 charter and the Global Vision at 8th Summit held in Islamabad in 2012. During Pakistan’s D-8 Chairmanship, the organization also obtained observer status at the United Nations. Pakistan had assumed the Chair of the D-8 in 2012.
 
            The Prime Minister called upon the member states to take necessary measures for early implementation of various instruments such as Preferential Trade, Customs and the Visa agreements to further boost trade among the member states. At the conclusion of his opening statement, the Prime Minster handed over the D-8 Chair to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey. 
 
Congratulating Turkey on assumption of the D-8 Chair, the Prime Minister expressed hope that under the dynamic leadership of President Erdogan, the economic cooperation among D-8 member states will be further strengthened. 
            The D-8 Summit adopted the Istanbul Declaration 2017 and D-8 Istanbul Plan of Action to inject further dynamism and strengthen economic cooperation in the organization. 
On the sidelines of the D-8, the Prime Minister also had interactions with other leadership. Today in the afternoon, the Prime Minister also met with the Members of the Turkish Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK).
 
Turkey, Pakistan, Iran Nigeria, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Egypt participated in the Summit. Azerbaijan and Guinea attended the meeting as observers.
 
Istanbul
20 October 2017