Md. Muzibur Rahman :
Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus has attended recently the D-8 Summit held in Cairo, Egypt. We know that the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation, also known as Developing-8, is an organization for development co-operation among Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkey. The combined population of the eight countries is about 1.2 billion or 60% of all Muslims, or close to 13% of the world’s population and covering an area of 7.6 million square kilometers, 5% of world land area. In 2006, trade between the D-8 member states stood at $35 billion, and it was around $68 billion in 2010. Transactions between the eight developing countries accounted for 3.3 percent of world trade in 2010. The total nominal GDP of the eight nations was around 4.92 trillion as of 2023.
The D-8’s Purposes and objectives is to improve the position of developing countries within the world economy, to diversify their commercial relations, to create new opportunities for member countries in the field of trade, to ensure their strong participation in decision-making mechanisms at international level. The main areas of co-operation include finance, banking, rural development, science and technology, humanitarian development, agriculture, energy, environment, and health. In the first Summit Declaration (Istanbul, 1997), the main objective of D-8 is stated to be socio-economic development in accordance with the following principles: Peace instead of conflict, Dialogue instead of confrontation, Cooperation instead of exploitation, Justice instead of double standard, Equality instead of discrimination, Democracy instead of oppression.
The fifth D-8 Summit Declaration (Bali, 2006) produced the following, as illustration of the application of the group’s objectives: Commitment to work together to solve the problem of economic disparities within our countries, Reaffirm commitment to enhance co-operation in the field of energy to develop alternative and renewable energy resources, Emphasize the importance of D-8 in contributing to the economic development of its member countries and ensure that it promotes global trade.
Structure of the Summit which is convened every two years, has the highest level of authority, and is composed of the leaders of each member state, The Council is the principal decision-making body and forum for consideration of issues relating to the and is composed of the foreign affairs ministers of each member state, the Commission has executive authority, and is composed of Commissioners appointed by each member state’s government. Commissioners are responsible for promoting compliance with directives in their respective nation.
Finally, an executive director is appointed by D-8 members to facilitate communication and to act in a supervisory capacity during each summit or lower-level assembly. Egypt is hosting the summit of the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation, which also includes Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey in 2024. The theme of the summit is “Investing in youth and supporting SMEs: Shaping tomorrow’s economy”.
It is a fitting theme for the present time of Bangladesh & Dr. Muhamad Yunus urged the D-8 countries to invest in youth & youth based startups to build an economy of the future. He also urged the D-8 to open result-oriented conversations involving the youths and youth driven businesses and work in unison to improve the lives of people of the block. He also added that the youth and technology-driven businesses would be the driving force of future economy. He offered Bangladesh’s leadership in convening a multi-stakeholders meeting in 2025 in this regard. On SMEs, Prof Yunus said that most of them thrive within informal economies, but aspire to grow and connect to the global supply chain.
Praising the competitive nature of SMEs, he said ‘In the D-8 countries, collectively we possess enough wealth to stand by these SMEs. With our modest support, we can shape a virtuous ‘cycle of good’, for them and our people. We need to let money flow to them’. Bangladesh has skilled & unskilled unemployed youths who can lead SME-led growth. Engaging the youth in SMEs can bring the possible change in the economic landscape of Bangladesh where it can grow sustainably and achieve a competitive edge in the global arena. The role of youth in civic and political life has never been more critical. Bangladesh’s youth are agents of change. Their engagement is essential to uphold democratic values and ensure that future development is underpinned by equity, non-discrimination, and social justice. Two and a half million young people are entering Bangladesh’s labor market every year.
Prof Yunus proposed two specific actions for youth development. Firstly, building and deepening functional, impact-driven connections between universities and equivalent knowledge institutions and the youth. Secondly, he proposed thinking deeply about how to skill up millions of young adults in the workplace as well as confronting the challenge of re-skilling millions at different vocational streams, on a continuous basis. He also proposed thinking of a cooperative learning agenda that can complement the national undertakings of the D-8 countries. Bangladesh has huge potentials for SMEs growth & development. D-8 nations can help Bangladesh by supplying fund for SMEs’ development and technology transfer. As the objectives of D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation are to improve member states’ position in the global economy, diversify and create new opportunities, can help Bangladesh for youth driven SMEs development in the near future.
(The author writes on different issues in the news media, can be reached at:
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