1.    The Government of the Republic of Indonesia hosted the XXII Session of Developing Eight (D-8) Commission in Jakarta on 12-13 November 2006. The meeting was attended by delegates from The People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Arab Republic of Egypt, The Republic of Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Malaysia, Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and Republic of Turkey. The list of commissioners is attached as Annex I.

2.    The meeting was chaired by H.E. Ambassador Mochamad S. Hidayat, the D-8 Commissioner of Indonesia, who is also Acting D-8 Secretary General. In his opening statement, Ambassador Hidayat underlined the importance of the meeting to discuss ways and means in improving the effectiveness of the D-8 cooperation, as well as to evaluate its progress since the Bali Summit held earlier this year. He further emphasized the need to speed up the implementation of the programme of activities which has not been fully implemented.

3.    The meeting adopted the provisional agenda as attached in Annex II.

4.    In his capacity as the Acting Secretary General of D-8, H.E. Ambassador Mochamad S. Hidayat presented his report on the Development of D-8 cooperation since the XXI meeting of Commission on 19 September 2006 in New York. The report covers the progress of the agreed programmes under the approved Calendar of Events, Job Description for the Secretary General’s Office and the Financial Status and other administrative arrangement. He highlighted the lack of participation or postponement on the agreed programmes and the need to find a way to solve such problem by not only reaffirming D-8 shared commitment but also by creating practical initiatives to respond to what D-8 member countries really need. He urged member countries to respond to the proposal by the Secretariat to enhance D-8 cooperation which was circulated earlier. The full Report of the Acting Secretary General is attached as Annex III.

5.    The meeting considered and adopted the report of the Capacity Building Programme on Microfinance, held in Jakarta, Indonesia on 6-12 November 2006. Delegation of Indonesia reported that the programme was conducted successfully as the first D-8 capacity building programme. The programme made a set of recommendations to establish D-8 strategic alliance on microfinance. One of the most feasible recommendations to be implemented in the future was the setting up of the D-8 website on microfinance that would be coordinated by Indonesia. The full Report is attached as Annex IV.

6.    The meeting exchanged views and discussed the implementation of the agreed calendar of events and ways on how to make D-8 cooperations more effective in the future. It was noted that two programmes, namely the Workshop on Digital Technologies in Teheran, and the Workshop on Financial Infrastructure Development on Takaful in Cairo, have been postponed due to the lack of participation of member countries. All delegations expressed their concern and views on this matter, and made several suggestions to avoid similar situations reoccurring in the future.

7.    After extensive discussion among delegates, it was agreed to set up a certain mechanism for future cooperation, particularly on procedural and substantive matters to implement D-8 proposed programmes and activities, as follows:

a.            Member countries who have proposed the programmes under the agreed calendar of event should submit the Term of Reference (TOR)/Brief for each proposed programme within the period of two months after the 22^nd meeting of Commission. The TOR would include detailed information on the proposed programme, its objectives, date and venues and other background information for consideration by other member countries.

b.            Any new proposal from member countries should be attached with TOR which contains detail information of the program and be submitted to the Secretariat for circulation to all member countries for further consideration by the Commissioners. A period of three months is suggested for the consideration of member state on such proposal.

c.            Reviving the role of the country coordinator for different fields of cooperation as previously agreed by D-8 leaders is needed to strengthen the focus of the programme activities. In this context, member countries who propose programme are recommended to be in contact and coordinate with the country coordinator through the Secretariat, bearing in mind the need to avoid the delay in the implementation of the programme.

d.            Involving more participation of private sector and business community as well as international organizations and financial institutions in D-8 programme activities was suggested.

e.            Designing D-8 capacity building programmes in various fields of development cooperation in the form of training programmes and dissemination of information.

f.             Indonesia as the Chairman of D-8 would arrange regular meetings and briefings with D-8 Ambassadors in Jakarta to improve coordination and monitoring mechanism of the programme’s implementation and activities of the D-8. The Commissioners, through the Secretariat, will be kept informed on the progress /outcome of the meetings.

g.            The Acting Secretary General would seek the possibility of cooperation between D-8 and United Nations bodies such as UNCTAD, UNIDO and UNDP as well as other relevant international organizations and financial institutions in creating tangible programmes for D-8.

8. As the follow up action to the mandate given by the Council of Ministers during its Tenth Session in New York on 19 September 2006, the meeting agreed on the following:

a. Member countries were requested to express their willingness, within one month after the 22^nd Meeting of Commission to host the meeting of Immigration Officials as recommended by the Council of Ministers, in order to accelerate the entry into force of the D-8 Visa Agreement.

b.    Member countries were also requested to express their willingness, within one month after the 22^nd Meeting of Commission, to host the meeting of civil aviation and D-8 national carriers.

9.    The delegation of Indonesia informed the meeting that it will host another capacity building programme on Trade Dispute Settlement Mechanism in May 2007, back to back with the 23^rd meeting of Commissioner. Meanwhile, the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers would be held in New York amidst the UNGA as it has been the practice of D-8.

10. The meeting took note of the readiness of Pakistan to hold the HLTO Meeting to conclude the Draft Rules of Origin and other related instruments to implement the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA), in Islamabad, on 18-19 December 2006. Keeping in view the importance of the meeting towards the implementation of the PTA, member countries were urged to fully participate in the meeting.

11. On the proposed meeting of the Working Group on Industry, the delegation of Malaysia requested member countries to respond as soon as possible to the questionnaire circulated to all member countries in order to make necessary preparation for the Working Group Meeting on Industry scheduled for the first quarter in 2007.

12. The meeting agreed to design a new website under the D-8 Secretariat. Within two weeks, the Secretariat would prepare a proposed budget and cost analysis for establishing such website for consideration by the Commissioners. All the data stored at the existing website maintained by Iran and Turkey would be accommodated in the new website.

13. Member countries were requested to consider and provide comments on the draft job description for the Staff of the Secretariat. Written comments and suggestion should be submitted to the Secretariat as soon as possible.

14. The meeting called upon member countries in arrears to fulfill their commitment for financial contribution to the D-8 Secretariat.

15. The delegations expressed their appreciation to the Government of Indonesia for the warm hospitality and the excellent arrangements made for the meeting.