Dozens of officials, experts and NGO representatives from D8 nations gathered in Baku, Azerbaijan, late last week to examine how shifts in the global media landscape affect developing countries’ interests and geopolitics. They also explored deeper South-South cooperation as inter-bloc trade continues to rise.

The event, attended by delegations from Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkey and the D8’s newest member Azerbaijan, came as the latest step in the bloc’s broader push in recent years to strengthen its visibility and economic weight, aiming to more than double intra-group trade to US$500 billion annually by 2030.

D8 secretary-general Isiaka Abdul Qadir Imam, who in his opening remarks outlined the group’s ambitions to expand cooperation in areas such as energy, agriculture and food security, also emphasized the need for developing countries to take greater ownership of their narratives on the global stage.

“The whole idea is to see how we can tell our own story from the perspective of the D8 organization [...] to let the world know who we are, what we have achieved so far,” Imam said.

Indonesia, represented by the Foreign Ministry’s senior policy advisor for multilateral affairs Agustaviano Sofjan, reiterated its support for stronger collaboration between member states in the media sector, noting that rapid shifts in the global media and digital landscape require a stronger South-South response. 

“We face the persistent and accelerated spread of disinformation, widening digital inequalities and uneven access to reliable information; and the fast-paced evolution of media technologies driven by artificial intelligence as new digital platforms,” Agustaviano said.

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