The D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation, established on June 15, 1997, will mark on Thursday its 20th anniversary. 

The organization groups eight Islamic countries namely Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey and Bangladesh.

D-8 is one of the promising commercial and economic blocs in the world as it comprises eight developing countries with a population of more than 1.1 billion individuals or 15 percent of the world's population.

These countries' gross domestic products are more than 3.7 trillion US dollars and its exports reach more than 693 billion US dollars or four percent of the world's trade.

The organization held eight summits within the framework of achieving its noble goals, besides 37 meetings at the level of committees and 16 meetings at the level of councils with the participation of hundreds of representatives from member countries.

Ministerial meetings were also held and workshops were organized in six fields namely trade, agriculture, industry, energy, transportation and tourism.

D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation looks forward to consolidate its success in the ninth summit to be hosted by Turkey.

The young organization aims at promoting peace, dialogue, cooperation, justice and equality instead of conflict, confrontation, exploitation, double-standard and discrimination.

Over the past 20 years, the D-8 has succeeded in establishing and developing cooperation with a wide spectrum of international institutions.

The organization signed a joint Declaration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) on April 2, 2015 in Vienna.

Source: MENA