D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation
The D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation, also known as Developing-8, is an organisation for development co-operation among Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkey. Azerbaijan was admitted to the organization as the 9th member on 19 December 2024.
The combined population of the nine countries is more than 1.28 billion or 63% of all Muslims, or close to 16% of the world's population and covering an area of 7.62 million square kilometres, 5% of world land area. In 2016, trade between the D-8 member states stood at approximately $65 billion, showing substantial growth since its inception. By 2020, this figure increased to around $133 billion, reflecting the enhanced economic cooperation and integration among member countries. In 2024, the total nominal GDP of the eight nations reached approximately $5.1 trillion, underscoring their collective economic significance. Transactions among these countries accounted for an increasing share of global trade as they continue to pursue ambitious goals, such as reaching a trade value of $500 billion by 2030 under the D-8 Decennial Road map. This plan also focuses on expanding sectoral cooperation in areas like agriculture, energy, and transportation, fostering sustainable development across the member states.
Purposes and objectives
The main areas of co-operation include finance, banking, rural development, science and technology, humanitarian development, agriculture, energy, environment, and health.
In the first Summit Declaration (Istanbul, 1997), the main objective of D-8 is stated to be socio-economic development in accordance with the following principles:
- Peace instead of conflict.
- Dialogue instead of confrontation.
- Cooperation instead of exploitation.
- Justice instead of double standard.
- Equality instead of discrimination.
- Democracy instead of oppression.
The fifth D-8 Summit Declaration (Bali, 2006) produced the following, as illustration of the application of the group's objectives:
- Commitment to work together to solve the problem of economic disparities within our countries.
- Reaffirm commitment to enhance co-operation in the field of energy to develop alternative and renewable energy resources.
- Emphasize the importance of D-8 in contributing to the economic development of its member countries and ensure that it promotes global trade.
Structure
The Summit, which is convened every two years, has the highest level of authority, and is composed of the leaders of each member state.
The Council is the principal decision-making body and forum for consideration of issues relating to the and is composed of the foreign affairs ministers of each member state.
The Commission has executive authority, and is composed of Commissioners appointed by each member state's government. Commissioners are responsible for promoting compliance with directives in their respective nation. Finally, an executive director is appointed by D-8 members to facilitate communication and to act in a supervisory capacity during each summit or lower-level assembly.
D-8 Summits
Member countries
Secretaries-General
Affiliated Bodies
- D-8 International University
- D-8 Map of Scientific Excellence and Collaboration (D8-MSEC)
- D-8 Network of Pioneers for Research and Innovation (D-8 NPRI)
- D-8 Technology Transfer and Exchange Network (D-8 TTEN)
- D-8 Health and Social Protection Programme (D-8 HSP)
- D-8 Research Center for Agriculture and Food Security