Malaysia's premier hosts D-8 chief, projects discussed

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad received the chief of Developing-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation (D-8) in the city of Putrajaya, Malaysia on Wednesday.

Mahathir and D-8 Secretary-General Dato’ Ku Jaafar Ku Shaari discussed the recent developments in the Islamic world, the prospective projects of the D-8 and Malaysia's contribution to the organization.

Established in Turkey’s Istanbul in 1997, the D-8 is the economic group of eight Muslim countries -- Turkey, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, and Pakistan.

Underlining that Malaysia will contribute to the projects of D-8, Mahathir also expressed his wish for the boosting cooperation between the member states of the bloc.

Ku Shaari, for his part, highlighted the key role of Mahathir in the organization as the founding father of D-8 during the meeting.

Ku Shaari also invited the Malaysian leader to the D-8 summit, set to be held at the end of 2019 in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency following his meeting with Mahathir, Ku Shaari said the D-8 has been recently working to finalize the roadmap for the new projects.

“We are preparing our 10-year plan for the period of 2020-2030,” he said.

The D-8 chief elaborated on the plan: “We want to incorporate new ideas and projects in different areas such as science and technology, innovation, education, housing, environment finance, to our structure.”

The economic cooperation organization works with aim to improve the economic position of member states globally, diversify and create new opportunities in trade relations, enhance participation in decision-making at international level, and improve the living standards.

Ku Shaari also mentioned the one card payment system among the member D-8 countries.

He said: “We are working with a Malaysian company for the D8P card project and the process works very well. The project was approved by D8 council of ministers. The central banks of the five member countries support this card. Negotiations continue with the remaining three countries.”

“D8P card will be ready for use with the D-8 summit in 2019,” Ku Shaari added.

After Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a bid on trade in local currencies among the member states, the D-8 started to work on a single payment card named "D8P", which will enable D-8 countries to use local currencies in international trade among members of the organization.

Through an application to be prepared with the D8P card, all citizens of member countries will be able to use this payment method in all shopping and touristic visits.

The card would work as a master or visa card in time.

Writing By Zehra Nur Duz