Iran-Malaysia-FMs
Foreign Ministers of Iran and Malaysia Manouchehr Mottaki and Rais Yatim discussed major regional and international developments here on Sunday.

The meeting was held on the sidelines of the 11th meeting of the Eight Islamic Developing Countries' (D-8) foreign ministers.

The two-day meeting started its work earlier on Sunday in the Malaysian capital.

The D-8 Summit is slated for July 7-8.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to leave Tehran for Kuala Lumpur this evening to attend the D-8 Summit.

Mottaki and his Malaysian counterpart exchanged views on ways to promote bilateral cooperation, particularly in the field of economic activities.

Referring to Iran's geopolitical situation in the region and its influential role among regional states, Mottaki said that Tehran has always helped resolve regional crises in the past three decades.

The D-8 ministerial meeting would be followed by the sixth Summit of the group's heads of states.

The D-8 comprises Iran, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.

It was set up in 1997 as an economic alliance with the objective of improving the position of Muslim developing countries in the global world economy through the diversification of their economies by creating new opportunities via increased trade relations.

The theme of the upcoming summit is "Meeting Challenges Through Innovative Cooperation."
This is the first time that Malaysia is hosting the D-8 Summit.

The 2008 Summit is expected to adopt the decision on the setting up of the D-8 Permanent Secretariat and D-8 Roadmap for Economic Cooperation in the Second Decade of Cooperation (2008-2018).

The Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda handed over the D-8's two-year chairmanship to his Malaysian counterpart during the opening ceremony of the ministerial meeting Sunday morning.

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