D-8 Officially Signs HQ Agreement with the Government of Turkey

Istanbul, Turkey | February 24, 2009 by D-8 Secretariat

D-8 SG, Dipo Alam (left), and Selim Kuneralp (right), Deputy Undersecretary for Economic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, signs HQ Agreement in Ankara on Friday

The Headquarters Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the Secretariat of the Developing-Eight (D-8) Countries situated in Istanbul has been signed on 20 February 2009, in Ankara. The signing was concluded on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Turkey Ambassador by Selim Kuneralp, Deputy Undersecretary for Economic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and on behalf of the D-8 Secretariat, Dipo Alam, Secretary General of the D-8.

On this occasion, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey invited the Heads of Diplomatic Missions of the D-8 Countries in Ankara to the signing ceremony that was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Taha Carım Conference Hall, on 20 February 2009 at 16.30 hours. The signing ceremony was also attended by the officials of the relevant Departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Following an invitation by Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Egypt and Nigeria took part in the “Conference on Cooperation for Development” held in Istanbul on 22 October 1996. This conference was the first step towards the establishment of the D-8, another cooperation platform set up at Turkey’s initiative. The D-8 was set up officially and began its activities with the Istanbul Declaration issued at the end of the summit of Heads of State and Government held in Istanbul on 15 June 1997, with a structure that included an Executive Directorship, established in Istanbul

So far, the D-8 has held six summits successively in Istanbul, Dhaka, Cairo, Tehran, Bali and Kuala Lumpur, eleven Council of Foreign Ministers meetings, 26 Commission meetings and numerous meetings at technical level.

An example of cooperation among developing countries within the framework of a South-South dialogue, the D-8 aims to improve the developing countries’ positions in the world economy, diversify and create new opportunities in trade relations, enhance participation in decision-making mechanisms at the international level, and provide people with better living standards

In the 1997-2006 period, retired Ambassador Ayhan Kamel held the post of the D-8 Executive Director. The D-8 Executive Directorship was transformed to a Secretariat General at the 9th Council of the Ministers. The D-8 Secretariat which is located in Istanbul was operating in the BSEC Headquarters building in Istanbul. The Secretariat has moved to its new office in Istanbul, in August 2006.

The Headquarters Agreement which will be signed on 20 February 2009 aims to determine the legal status of the Headquarters of the D-8 and to allow the Secretariat of the D-8 to carry out its duties and functions efficiently.

“Signing the Agreement is one of our efforts to complete legal supports on the role of the Secretariat beside other Agreements and their ratification such as PTA, Visa, Custom, including Roadmap, and next is D-8 Charters,” said Dipo Alam, the D-8 Secretary General. He also underlined that these all efforts of the Secretariat to implement all programs supported by these agreement as part of institutional development of D-8 organization is conluded in order to implement all cooperation program efficiently and properly.

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