The Special High Council Meeting of D-8 Technology Transfer and Exchange Network (D-8 TTEN) took place on October 2, 2023 alongside the 4th Business and Technology Meeting (BTM) and the 5th Mustafa Prize in Isfahan, I.R. Iran. Representatives from Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Türkiye attended the meeting in person, while Malaysia and Indonesia participated online. During the meeting, it was agreed that this Special High Council Meeting would be recognized as the 8th HCM (HCM 2023) hosted by Isfahan, I.R. Iran. Dr. Milad Sadrkhanlou, the President of D-8 TTEN, started the meeting by welcoming and thanking the attendees, both physical and virtual, for their participation in the meeting. He then went through the agenda of the meeting and continued by reviewing the activities and changes since the last HCM.
Mr. Ahmar Ismail, Director I of D-8, expressed gratitude for the presence of the members and the D-8 TTEN Secretariat in organizing the meeting and emphasized that: “This (meeting) gives all of us a very good opportunity to come, sit together, talk to each other about our experience, our research, our developments in our countries and share these developments with others and share their experience with ours so that we can improve, we can enhance our learning and our development.”
Dr. Rasoul Rajaei, Administrative Officer of the D-8 TTEN Secretariat, provided an update on the Secretariat's activities since the adoption of the new Charter of the Network including the appointment of Dr. Sadrkhanlou as the President of D-8 TTEN.
Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Choudhary, Coordinator-General of COMESTECH, attended the meeting as an honorary guest to present the D-8 Technology Festival Initiative. This initiative, jointly organized by COMESTECH and D-8 TTEN, aims to showcase domestically developed technologies in D-8 countries through exhibitions, starting with Medical Technologies in Pakistan.
The D-8 CoFI, which was previously discussed in the 7th HCM, was reported during the meeting. It was mentioned that the invitation letters for the initiative sent to the member states prior to the meeting did not receive a response from the NaCOs. The members emphasized the need for timely receipt of the latest versions of the initiative's documents to allow for thorough review and discussion with financial bodies in their respective countries.
It was decided to distribute all documents of the D-8 Co-FI to the member states for review.
The closing statements were finally presented by Dr. Sadrkhanlou.
