Ambassador Dato Ku Jaafar Ku Shaari, Secretary General of the Emerging Eight Countries (D-8), stated that the D-8 will be one of the world's largest economic blocks in 2050. Ku Jaafar, AA correspondent, said the D-8 is a young organization with a 21-year history, but until recently not known much, he said.
Ku Jaafar, who described this new era as a gidil project phase i, explained that the six main fields of activity are added to new areas such as education, health, science and technology and that closer cooperation with the private sector will be made. Ku Jaafar stated that they took action to increase the awareness of the D-8 and emphasized that in this context, they first started to inform about the D-8 in international publications.
Ku Jaafar stated that there is a widespread method of raising awareness by getting support from professionals all over the world, and that many leaders in the world use this method. We want to get professional support in the future as D-8. We are even trying to create our own professional media representation.
"We receive invitations from all over the world"
Ku Jaafar emphasized that they changed the mentality in D-8, adding: "D-8 is an intergovernmental organization, but we started to manage the secretariat with the logic of the company by keeping our commissions in the big picture. Thus, we work more closely with the private sector and act more professionally and result-oriented. Now we see a sense of awareness and belonging to the D-8 in countries, international institutions, people and the private sector. So much so that we get invitations from all over the world. There are very serious turns. We have started negotiations with UN Food and Agriculture Organization, UN Trade and Development Conference and UN Industrial Development Organization. We are working on new projects within the framework of the cooperation protocol signed with the Islamic Development Bank."
The question of whether the D-8 could be an alternative to G-8 in the future, said Ku Jaafar, "As it is known, G-8 is a very large and long-established organization and it consists of developed countries. D-8 is a very young organization. In his 21-year history, he has been able to build platforms that can build the existing business associations, but we are hopeful."