Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will address the 11th Summit of the Developing Eight (D-8) countries being held in Cairo today, state-owned Radio Pakistan reported.
Founded in 1997 in Istanbul, the D-8 Organisation for Economic Cooperation, also known as Developing-8, is an organisation for development cooperation among Egypt, Nigeria, Turkiye, Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Iran, and Malaysia.
Its objective is to increase economic cooperation among member states to boost economic growth, sustain development and promote and improve standards of living by focusing on bringing improvement and enhancing cooperation in agriculture, trade, transportation, industry, energy, and tourism.
PM Shehbaz arrived at the Royal Palace of Egypt in Cairo today to attend the summit.
He was received by Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and recorded his impressions in the visitors’ book kept at the palace, according to Radio Pakistan.
On the sidelines of the summit, PM Shehbaz met with Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus, chief advisor of the interim government of Bangladesh’s interim government, as well as Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.
He is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with the presidents of Iran, Turkiye and Egypt.
The theme of this year’s summit, being held from Dec 18 to 19, is “Investing in Youth and Supporting SMEs: Shaping Tomorrow’s Economy”.
At the summit, PM Shehbaz will underline the importance of investing in youth and SMEs to build a strong and inclusive economy; create jobs; advance innovation; and promote local entrepreneurship.
He will also attend a special session of D-8 on ‘Humanitarian Crisis and Reconstruction Challenges in Gaza and Lebanon’ to deliberate on the situation resulting from Israeli aggression in the Middle East.
In an earlier summit in June, the alliance demanded full Palestinian membership of the United Nations and greater international pressure on Israel for a ceasefire in Gaza.
PM thanks Yunus for steps to boost travel, trade with Bangladesh
PM Shehbaz termed his meeting with Bangladesh’s Yunus a “very warm and cordial exchange”, with Radio Pakistan reporting various positive steps taken to facilitate trade and travel between the two countries.
“We discussed strengthening historical and cultural ties, increasing trade, and exploring cooperation in IT, chemicals, leather, surgical goods and other sectors,” the premier said in a post on X.
The two also “agreed to enhance people-to-people exchanges and align efforts for mutual development”. “We reaffirmed our commitment to deepen bilateral and multilateral collaboration for the shared prosperity of our peoples,” the prime minister added.
According to Radio Pakistan, the two leaders acknowledged the importance of people-to-people contacts and cultural exchanges, including of artists, sportspersons, academics, and students.
It added that they “noted with satisfaction” the recent visit by the Bangladesh Cricket Team to Pakistan as well as the concert of music band Jal in Dhaka.
PM Shehbaz expressed his gratitude to Bangladesh for the recent steps taken for the facilitation of trade and travel between the two South Asian nations, the report said, adding that it included waiving off the condition of 100 per cent physical inspection of consignments from Pakistan and abolishment of a special security desk at the Dhaka airport established earlier to scrutinise Pakistani passengers.
The prime minister also thanked Bangladesh for doing away with an additional clearance requirement for Pakistani visa applicants.
