Secretary General-Designate of the Developing 8 Organization for Economic Cooperation (D-8), Ambassador Sohail Mahmood, visited the COMSATS Secretariat on 24th December 2025. He was warmly welcomed by the Executive Director COMSATS, Ambassador Dr. Mohammad Nafees Zakaria.

Ambassador Zakaria congratulated Ambassador Sohail Mahmood on his appointment as Secretary General, D-8. He provided a comprehensive overview of COMSATS’ mission, strategic priorities, and its role in advancing South-South cooperation through science and technology. Ambassador Zakaria highlighted that COMSATS and D-8 share six common Member States including Bangladesh, Egypt, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Türkiye, and underscored their significance of active participation within COMSATS’ multilateral framework. Ambassador Zakaria also informed that COMSATS has a Centre of Excellence in Indonesia, along with strong collaboration with leading S&T institutions in Azerbaijan and Malaysia.

Ambassador Sohail Mahmood acknowledged COMSATS’ notable achievements and commended its long-standing contributions to strengthening scientific and technological capacity across the Global South. He expressed his willingness to explore mutually beneficial avenues of engagement between D-8 and COMSATS. The discussion covered a range of potential collaborative areas, including capacity-building programmes, joint research initiatives, technology-driven development solutions, and institutional partnerships. They agreed to explore opportunities for bilateral cooperation between COMSATS and D-8 in the areas of science, technology, and innovation, and to identify mutually beneficial avenues for collaboration.

They reaffirmed their intent to advance cooperation in key areas of shared priority, including Agriculture and Food Security, ICTs, Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability, Energy, and Industry.