City Desk
Islamabad: 3rd Ministerial Meeting preceded by 4th Senior Officials Meeting on Tourism Cooperation was held in Pakistan for the first time on 4-5 August 2023
The Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan convened the Third D-8 Ministerial and Fourth Senior Officials Meetings on Tourism in Bhurban, Murree, Pakistan, on 4-5 August 2023. The Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) was the leading institution in hosting both the meetings in cooperation with the D-8 Secretariat.
Mr. Awn Chaudry, thea Advisor to the Prime Minister on Tourism and Sports of Pakistan and the Chairman of the PTDC, chaired the Ministerial session.
Ministers responsible for tourism, D-8 Ambassadors in Islamabad, Senior Officials from D-8 Member States as well as key representatives from private sector of Pakistan participated in the Meetings. They engaged in fruitful discussions on advancing tourism cooperation among D-8 Member States.
This joint media statement was adopted in the 3rd Ministerial Meeting on Tourism Cooperation.
Bangladesh recalled the proposition of devising thematic tourism guidelines such as ecotourism, riverine tourism, wildlife tourism. Mentionable Bangladesh is working on devising the thematic guidelines in coordination with different agencies. Also Stressed the need of D8 member states to organize collaborative efforts in this regard.
The Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities underscored that the Middle East region witnessed strong performance during the past months, and succeeded in restoring pre-pandemic numbers in the first quarter of this year, according to reports issued by the UNWTO. He also highlighted his country’s efforts to promote tourism industry which led to a record in the Egyptian tourism history with more than 7 million tourists in the first half of 2023, and a perspective of an annual growth between 25-30% in the coming 5 years. He praised the new initiatives proposed by the Secretariat to enhance cooperation among D8 countries and expressed Egypt’s willingness to share its experiences in the field of management and training in the tourism sector.
H.E. Sandiaga Salahudin Uno, Minister for Tourism and Creative Industry of Indonesia encouraged the D-8 countries to collaborate and promote quality, inclusive, and sustainable tourism that benefits local communities and protect the environment.
H.E Syed Ezzatollah Zarghami, Minister for Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts of the Islamic Republic of Iran, stated that the holy Qur’an, in its different verses, advises us to travel to other lands in order to reach a better understanding of the world around, observe the way of living in the other states and learn lessons from other lives. In other words, the soul of these verses is focusing on paying special attention to human intangible heritage.
Malaysia stated that it looks forward to advancing regional and international cooperation in tourism by continuing to work closely with organisations such as UNWTO, APEC, IORA and D-8 and strongly recommends continued engagement and sharing of knowledge among members, particularly in the areas of digitalisation, technology adoption and sustainable tourism investments, as well as emerging niche areas of growth such as Muslim Friendly Tourism, for the industry to emerge stronger and more resilient to future disruptions.
Nigeria stated that it remains committed to objectives set out by the Crescent Moon Initiative and the Comprehensive Tourism Strategy, both serving as frameworks for international cooperation in the tourism industry. In line with the initiative of the D-8 designated Airport in each member state for the promotion of people-to-people and business to business contacts as well as tourism and travel facilitation among member states, the Nigerian Government has conceived the idea of building an aerotropolis in the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja which will showcase Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage and tourism potential while boosting businesses and investment.
His Excellency Mr. Nadir Alparslan, Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism of Türkiye highlighted Türkiye’s strategic roadmap in sustainable tourism, as the very first country in the world launching a sustainable tourism program at national level. Deputy Minister also addressed the need for close cooperation between public and private sectors as key to success and expressed the readiness of his Ministry and affiliated institutions, including TİKA and Yunus Emre Institutes, for joint projects within D-8 framework.
Ambassador Isiaka Abdulqadir Imam, the D-8 Secretary-General, presented the progress of the D-8’s tourism cooperation and recalled the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on various aspects, particularly on tourism cooperation. He also underscored the importance of implementing the D-8 Comprehensive Strategy on Tourism Cooperation and the Crescent Moon Initiative, which the D-8 ministers responsible for tourism adopted in their Second meeting in Kuala Lumpur in 2019. He emphasized the novelty of those initiatives in turning the challenges posed by the pandemic into opportunities.