BAKU, Azerbaijan: Ambassador Isiaka Abdul Qadir Imam, secretary-general of the Developing-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation (D-8), has said the bloc of Muslim majority countries with a total of 1.2 billion population is eyeing $500 billion annual trade by 2030.
The D-8 is a multilateral bloc comprising Pakistan, Turkiye, Bangladesh, Egypt, Nigeria, Iran, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Azerbaijan became the 9th member of D-8 forum last year.
Imam said the D-8 is entering a new era of visibility and collaboration as it expands its membership and deepens cooperation across trade, calling the D-8’s demographic weight one of its greatest strengths with a massive consumer market.
The secretary-general said inter-D8 trade has grown sharply from $14 billion in 1997 to $145 billion in 2023, but the figure remains far below the group’s true potential.
