Muslim world needs a stronger D-8

Nozar Shafiei International affairs expert

Isiaka Abdulkadir Imam, the secretary general of D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation, talked with the Iranian president in Tehran yesterday. In the meeting, President Raeisi stressed the utilization of neglected capacities in every D-8 member state: Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Turkey, Egypt, Nigeria, and Indonesia.

To secure the interests of member states, D-8 organization has to possess certain important features, not unlike other regional and international organizations.

First, there must be cultural and social uniformity within the organization. D-8 member states already enjoy this feature since they are among the powerful countries within the Muslim world. As a shared hallmark, Islam is basically driving the organization forward.

Even though member states of the organization follow different policies, their political commonalities are not to be easily dismissed. D-8 can potentially be a leader of the Islamic world, but the differing political views of its members have prevented them from fulfilling such a function. So, while they are culturally and socially uniform, there should also be an attempt to draw D-8 member states closer together, politically.

D-8 member states need to economically complement each other, too. While economic differences do exist between them, such differences are not too drastic to make it impossible for member states to address each other’s economic and technological needs. To make the matters worse, however, these countries are competing with one another in some areas. Yet, the capabilities that these countries enjoy in the fields of energy, agriculture, and downstream industries can help them address their individual and collective needs.

A feature that marks regional and international organizations is that they serve a primary function as well as some secondary functions. For instance, G7 and G20 serve a political function for their member states. That is another reason why it is necessary for D-8 member states, the Muslim world, and the international system to see the organization become stronger.

To attain this goal, the quality of the secretariat is of significance. The secretariat must be able to draw up consequential agendum for the heads of member states and drive the organization toward increased mobility and cooperation.

Therefore, even though D-8 does not currently possess some of the aforementioned features at a satisfactory level, the organization could improve its functions and rectify its faults if there exists a strong will among the heads of the member states to have the organization play a bigger role.

D-8 states are currently not exploiting the existing capacities to the full, either. As President Raeisi has noted in his meeting with the Secretary General of D-8, many capacities have been neglected. Even in the current situation, Iran can still meet some needs of member states in the areas of downstream industries and knowledge-based technologies in addition to supplying their energy.