Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina has taken over the chairmanship of D-8 for the next two years. Hasina took office from Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday (April 8th).

Bangladesh has organized and presided over the summit at a unique time to celebrate the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the golden jubilee of independence. The President of Turkey delivered the inaugural address at the beginning of the Virtual Summit and then handed over the presidentship to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina.

Addressing the summit, the Prime Minister said that as one of the founding members of D-8, it has always had a particular weakness for the organization. She attended the first summit in Istanbul as prime minister when the D-8 was founded in 1996. Sheikh Hasina also presided over the second D-8 summit held in Dhaka in 1999.

The eight developing Muslim-majority countries, namely Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey, are known for their D-8 economic cooperation. 

Representatives of all D-8 heads of state and government, foreign ministers, and D-8 secretaries general attended the conference.