As part of the Baku-hosted Forum titled “Solidarity in Action: Strengthening Global South NGOs for a New and Fair World”, a panel discussion was held under the theme “Bridging Borders: D-8 Collaboration for a Prosperous Future.”
The session was moderated by Ordukhan Gahramanzada, Head of the Department on Work with Youth Organizations of Azerbaijan’s Youth Foundation. He described Azerbaijan’s accession to the Developing Eight Organization for Economic Cooperation (D-8) as a historic step, noting that it marked the first expansion of the organization since its founding. Gahramanzada emphasized that this development is a reflection of President Ilham Aliyev’s consistent and successful foreign policy.
In his remarks, Hüseyn Böyükfırat, Chairman of the Public Union of Businessmen and Industrialists of Türkiye and Azerbaijan, highlighted the six globally relevant core principles of the D-8: Peace instead of conflict, Dialogue instead of confrontation, Justice instead of double standards, Equality instead of discrimination, Democracy instead of oppression. He also underscored the strong unity demonstrated by Azerbaijan and Türkiye during the Karabakh Victory.
Amin Mammadov, Chairman of the Public Council under Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, noted that the D-8 encompasses countries with a combined population nearing 300 million, adding that this diversity holds significant potential. He stated that the organization could serve as a key platform for global solidarity and mutual development.
Other speakers included Abdul Quader, Founder and Executive Director of SETU (Bangladesh); Mohammed Fath-Allah, Director of the Environment and Meteorology Department of the League of Arab States (Egypt); Irvan Nanda, representative of the Association of Information Technology and Open Source (Indonesia); Olumide Idowu, climate change activist (Nigeria); Adnan Ullah, Member of the Young Peace and Development Corps (YPDC, Pakistan); and Muhammad Naufal, representative of the Generation Nexus (Malaysia). They emphasized the need for enhanced cooperation and development among Global South countries.
The session concluded with a Q&A session.
The Forum brings together leaders of prominent non-governmental organizations and civil society representatives from 116 countries, representing around 80 percent of the world’s population.
