Erdogan invites many states to co-operate with Turkey economically

“If we can clear the way for the use of our national coins in trade between our countries, we will make a revolution in the history of D-8. There is no need to distribute our economies under the pressure of exchange courses,” said Erdogan, stressing the importance of increasing economic steps within the organisation.

D-8 was founded in 1997 as a largely economic alliance among eight majority Muslim countries by former Turkish Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan. Along with Turkey, the other members are Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria and Pakistan.

Turkey is hosting the summit this year after taking over the D-8 leadership from Pakistan.

This event, marking 20 years of eight-nation alliance, is being held under the theme “expanding possibilities through co-operation”.

Among the participants are Iranian President Muhammad Buhari, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister Pakistan Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, First Iranian Vice President Esshaq Jahangiri and Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kala.

Erdogan also urged member states to join their central banks to create a joint home.

“We all need to embrace the D-8 and make efforts to increase its efficiency, productivity and power”, he said.

“We have potential for broad co-operation in many areas, from good agricultural practices to cleaning up energy, transportation towards environment and education”, he said, adding that new members could be added to the organisation.

In a world where everything changes, it is never acceptable that D-8 remains unchanged,” said Erdogan.

Currently, the organization has a combined GDP of $3.7 trillion and includes more than one billion people about 15 percent of the world's population. Two of its members Turkey and Indonesia are among the top 20 economies in the world./Periscopi/