Yunus arrives in Cairo to join D-8 summit

Kuala Lumpur is looking forward to closer ties with Dhaka in order to work together in addressing the Rohingya refugee crisis, Malaysian Minister for Higher Education Zambry Abdul Kadir said in a meeting with Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus yesterday.

Kadir called on Prof Yunus at the St Regis Hotel in the Egyptian capital of Cairo where the leaders of the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation known as Developing-8 or D-8 have gathered for a summit, according to the Chief Adviser’s Press Wing.

They discussed issues of mutual interest between the two countries, including the recruitment of Bangladeshis in Malaysia, the expansion of higher education ties, the Rohingya crisis, and the possibility of Bangladesh joining the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Kadri, who is also a champion of microcredit, said Kuala Lumpur would continue to support Bangladesh, including in the Rohingya humanitarian crisis and Bangladesh’s inclusion as a sectoral dialogue partner of ASEAN.

The chief adviser said he proposed an international conference on the Rohingya crisis, and he expects Malaysia to extend support to the move.

He said more than 80,000 new Rohingyas have entered Bangladesh in recent months after the latest bout of violence gripped Myanmar’s Rakhine state, which has been home to the Rohingya people for centuries.

Prof Yunus said he also favoured creating a UN-supervised safe zone for the displaced people in Rakhine state in an effort to assist the violence-plagued region.

During the talks, Prof Yunus said his government planned to hold elections by the first half of 2026.

The summit in Cairo, starting today, is being held under the theme “Investing in Youth and Supporting SMEs: Shaping Tomorrow’s Economy”.

The D-8, founded in 1997, promotes development cooperation among its member states.

These states include major Muslim-majority countries such as Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkey, which, according to some estimates, comprise about 14 percent of the global population.

On the sidelines of the summit, Prof Yunus is likely to hold bilateral meetings with the heads of the government of some D-8 member states, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Prof Yunus, who reached Egypt on a two-day visit yesterday, will also deliver a speech at Al-Azhar University in Cairo today.

He will address the Egyptian university at the invitation of Al-Azhar Al Sharif’s Grand Imam Ahmed Eltayeb, BSS reported, citing the chief adviser’s Deputy Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder.

Mohamed Shimi, the Egyptian minister of public business sector, received Prof Yunus at Cairo International Airport upon the chief adviser’s arrival in Cairo at 11:00 am. Later, Prof Yunus held a brief meeting with the minister.