Egypt is hosting the leaders of Turkey and Iran for a summit of eight Muslim-majority countries on Thursday, against a backdrop of regional turmoil including the conflict in Gaza and unrest in Syria.
The gathering of the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation, also known as the Developing-8, also includes Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia. A special session on Gaza and Lebanon will be held, and will be attended by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
The summit will see Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian meeting for the first time since Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad was ousted. Turkey has historically backed the opposition to Assad, while Iran supported his rule.
Pezeshkian, who arrived in Cairo on Wednesday, is the first Iranian president to visit Egypt since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who visited in 2013.
