Egypt thanks Turkey for efforts during D8 presidency

By Zuhal Demirci

CAIRO/ANKARA (AA) - Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly thanked Thursday Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for Turkey's efforts during the term presidency of the Developing 8 Countries (D8).

Speaking at the virtual 10th Summit of D8, Madbouly said his country attaches great importance to participating in the activities of the organization to strengthen cooperation between member countries and to achieve common interests and goals.

“The great challenges we have gone through have highlighted the importance of issues related to development, including economic, social and environmental aspects, showed the importance of economic sectors that can achieve a rapid recovery, and the importance of investing in human capital,” Egypt’s Prime Ministry said in a statement citing Madbouly.

“Special attention should be paid to the promotion of trade relations between the member countries,” he noted.

D8 countries agreed Thursday to enhance trade cooperation and bring their domestic trade volumes to at least 10% of the organization’s total trade in the next 10 years.

In the summit hosted by Bangladesh and also attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the bloc adopted the D8 Decennial Roadmap for 2020-2030 and the Dhaka Declaration 2021.

With the roadmap, the bloc aims to become stronger and more developed and support the implementation of relevant strategies and action programs to help achieve the 2030 sustainability agenda set by the UN.

The bloc includes Bangladesh, Egypt, Nigeria, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Turkey.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz