D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation Secretary-General Ambassador Sohail Mehmood has concluded a two-day working visit to Ankara, Turkiye describing it as productive and focused on strengthening the D-8’s institutional partnerships and advancing practical cooperation across its key priority areas.
The visit included meetings with senior Turkish officials, think tanks, a technology university, and a member of parliament, covering wide range of topics from artificial intelligence and innovation to parliamentary outreach and socio-economic research.
Ambassador Mahmood met with Turkey’s D-8 Commissioner Ambassador Aylin Sekizkok at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The two sides reviewed recent progress toward enhanced sectoral cooperation and institutional capacity-building within the organization.
At SESRIC, the Statistical, Economic, and Social Research and Training Center for Islamic Countries, he met with President H.E. Zehra Zumrut Selcuk.
Both sides agreed to deepen collaboration in statistics, socio-economic research, capacity-building, and focused studies on D-8 priority sectors, while exploring a more structured framework for future cooperation between the two organizations.
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At SAM, Turkey’s Center for Strategic Research under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, discussions with Chairman Professor Dr. Ramazan Erdag covered enhanced engagement with leading think tanks, academia, policy experts, and youth through joint research, publications, policy dialogues, and knowledge-based activities.
At OSTIM Technical University and the OSITM Organized Industrial Zone in Ankara, discussions with university leadership focused on artificial intelligence, innovation, techno parks, small and medium enterprises, entrepreneurship, and stronger university-industry linkages across D-8 member states.
On the sidelines of his Ankara visit, Ambassador Mahmood also attended the diplomatic reception marking the 81st anniversary of Indonesia’s Independence Day, hosted by Indonesian Ambassador Achmad R. Purnama. He conveyed warm congratulations to the Government and People of Indonesia on behalf of the D-8 organization.
Turkey is one of the D-8’s founding members and its most strategically important, home to the D-8 Secretariat in Istanbul and consistently its strongest institutional supporter.
The Secretary General’s visit to Ankara reflects the D-8’s ongoing efforts to move beyond summitry and build concrete, day-to-day working relationships with partner institutions across member states.
The focus on AI, innovation, SMEs, and university-industry linkages signal a forward-looking agenda for the organization, one that seeks to translate the D-8’s broad economic cooperation mandate into practical, sector-specific outcomes relevant to its 1.28 billion people.
