Turkish FM Davutoğlu meets Iran’s Zarif

ISLAMABAD - Anadolu Agency

Davutoğlu and Zarif met at the Pakistan Foreign Ministry building. AA Photo

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu had a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif while attending the Developing Eight (D-8) meeting in Pakistan’s Islamabad.

Davutoğlu and Zarif met at the Pakistan Foreign Ministry building, where the two exchanged views on several topics touched upon during Davutoğlu’s recent visit to Tehran, as well as on ways to improve bilateral relations.

Both sides confirmed upcoming visits in the future days, and the foreign ministers’ also talked about possible dates for the visits that are set to be conducted by the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

The D-8 was established by Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia in 1997 as a result of an initiative led by the late Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan. It held its first summit in 1997 in Istanbul.

In November 2012, a summit was held in Pakistan in order to revive the futile D-8 organization after 15 years of unsuccessful efforts to foster economic and trade ties between the world’s most populous Muslim countries. Erdoğan represented Turkey at that meeting.