CAIRO, Dec 19 (MENA) - Developing countries face significant challenges that hinder their aspirations for prosperity and development, including a lack of financing, escalating debts, a widening digital and knowledge gap, and high rates of poverty, hunger, and unemployment, particularly among youth, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said Thursday.

Such obstacles make it exceedingly difficult for these countries to achieve acceptable levels of progress and growth, Sisi added in his speech during the Egypt-hosted 11th Summit of the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation.

Sisi urged concerted efforts among developing countries to address these complex challenges by enhancing mutual cooperation and implementing joint projects and initiatives in various fields, including information and communication technology, digital economy, artificial intelligence applications, agriculture, manufacturing industries, and renewable energy, especially green hydrogen.

He also highlighted the importance of supporting and developing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as a real driver of development in developing countries.

Despite the economic diversity among member states, there is a shared understanding of the importance of exchanging successful experiments to achieve sustainable development goals, Sisi said.

He affirmed Egypt's readiness to share its enlightening experiments, particularly its implementation of the "Decent Life" and "Takaful and Karama" initiatives, as well as its infrastructure and urban development projects.

During Egypt's D-8 presidency, Sisi announced several initiatives aimed at bolstering cooperation among member states.

The initiatives include launching a network for directors of diplomatic institutes and academies to build the capacities of diplomatic cadres to address modern global issues, organizing an online competition for pre-university students in member states in the fields of science, engineering, and applied technologies, and establishing a network for cooperation among economic think tanks in member states to exchange ideas and visions on advancing economic and investment cooperation and trade rates.

The initiatives also include initiating periodic meetings for health ministers from member states, with Egypt hosting the first meeting in 2025 to discuss leveraging advanced technological and scientific applications to develop this vital sector.

Sisi also announced Egypt’s intention to ratify the organization's Preferential Trade Agreement, emphasizing the importance of enhancing intra-trade among member states.

The President highlighted the importance of the summit's timing, as the world and the Middle East face unprecedented challenges and crises, including conflicts and wars, economic and trade protectionism, and double standards.

He specifically referred to the continued Israeli war against the Palestinian people, which defies international legitimacy, warning of the risks of the conflict spreading to other countries, as seen in Lebanon and Syria, where recent attacks on sovereignty and territorial integrity pose escalation risks that could destabilize the entire region, affecting all sides politically and economically.

Sisi said a special session is dedicated to discuss the situation in Palestine and Lebanon.

D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation is an organization for economic cooperation among the following countries: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkiye.

The establishment of D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation was announced officially through the Istanbul Declaration of Summit of Heads of State/Government on June 15, 1997.

The objectives of D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation are to improve member states’ position in the global economy, diversify and create new opportunities in trade relations, enhance participation in decision-making at international level, and improve standards of living. (MENA)

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