The combined population of the eight countries is about 1.2 billion or 60% of all Muslims, or close to 13% of the world's population and covering an area of 7.6 million square kilometers, 5% of world land area. In 2006, trade between the D-8 member states stood at $35billion, and it was around $68billion in 2010. Transactions between the eight developing countries accounted for 3.3 percent of world trade in 2010. The total nominal GDP of the eight nations was around 4.92 trillion as of 2023.
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.
Cooperation between ISC and the D-8 Organization
The Islamic World Science and Technology Citation and Monitoring Institute (ISC) and the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation signed a memorandum of understanding on 13 February 2023 at the D-8 Secretariat in Istanbul, Turkey. The agreement aimed to strengthen cooperation in the fields of scientometrics, technology, and innovation. It was signed on behalf of the two institutions by Ambassador Isiaka Abdulqadir Imam, Secretary-General of the D-8 Organization, and Professor Seyed Ahmad Fazelzadeh, Head of ISC.
The memorandum aims to strengthen cooperation among scientists and research institutions in member states, improve the performance of research institutions, develop platforms for scientific collaboration, and implement joint activities to enhance engagement and visibility between the two organizations. The agreement also emphasizes expanding cooperation in scientometrics, technology, and innovation, as well as developing effective science and technology policies in member states.
According to the D-8 Organization, the 2023 memorandum replaced two previous memoranda of understanding signed between the two institutions in 2012 and 2018.
The Secretary General of the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation serves as the chief executive of the Secretariat. The Secretary General is appointed by the Summit, upon the recommendation of the Council of Ministers, by consensus from among qualified candidates nominated by Member States, for a single non-renewable term of four years, in accordance with Article 9.3 of the D-8 Charter and the principle of rotation among Member Countries.
↑The official websiteArchived 12 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine adopts the "G-15" orthography (with a hyphen) in order to distinguish an abbreviated references to this group – contrasts with other similarly named entities.
