PN Report
DOHA/ISLAMABAD: The Secretary-General of the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation, Ambassador Sohail Mahmood, participated in the 9th World Investment Forum (WIF) 2026 held in Doha from October 25-27, hosted by Qatar in partnership with UNCTAD under the theme “Investing in the Future.”
Invited by UNCTAD, the Secretary-General attended the Opening Ceremony and served as panelist in three high-level sessions on Investment Facilitation and Partnerships for Sustainable Development, International Investment Agreement (IIA) Reform, and Investing ‘Beyond GDP’ for Sustainable and Inclusive Progress. The Forum gathered over 5,000 participants, including government leaders, ministers, heads of international organizations, investors and 400 speakers across 80 sessions.
In his interventions, Sohail Mahmood stressed mobilizing investment for inclusive growth, highlighting D-8 priorities in green and digital transformation, SME development and regional connectivity, and cooperation among investment promotion agencies.
Welcoming UNCTAD’s Guiding Principles for IIA Reform, he recalled the D8-UNCTAD Guiding Principles for Investment Policymaking developed in 2020, emphasizing modernizing treaties while ensuring legal certainty, investor protection and regulatory space for sustainable development.
In the ‘Beyond GDP’ session, he called for stronger South-South cooperation to integrate well-being, equity and sustainability into investment decisions, and proposed joint pilots in education, AI, digital transformation and youth entrepreneurship.
On the sidelines, he met Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan, appreciating Pakistan’s role in D-8 and the outcomes of the 4th Trade Ministers Council in Cairo 2025, including the Dispute Settlement Mechanism and D-8 Chamber of Commerce and Industry Secretariat in Istanbul. He reiterated the target of $500 billion intra-D-8 trade by 2030 and need to accelerate implementation of D-8 Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA).
He also met Egypt’s Investment Minister Dr. Mohamed Farid Saleh, commending Egypt’s D-8 Chairmanship and ratification of PTA, discussing non-tariff barriers and expansion towards a comprehensive economic partnership.
Meetings with ICDT Director-General Latifa El Bouabdellaoui and ITU Deputy Secretary-General Tomas Lamanauskas focused on trade promotion, digital connectivity, ICT infrastructure and youth tech entrepreneurship.
