The OIC Begins Preparations for the Council of Foreign Ministers Meeting in Côte d'Ivoire
30/04/2017- The OIC Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) preparatory for the 44th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) began at the headquarters of the General Secretariat; it is scheduled from 30 April to 2 May 2017.The coming session will be held in Abidjan, the capital city of the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire, in July 2017 under the theme (Session of Youth, Peace and Development in a World of Solidarity).
The inaugural meeting has witnessed the handover of the chairmanship by the chair of the previous session the Republic of Uzbekistan to the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire.
The Secretary General of the Organization, Dr. Yousef A. Al-Othaimeen delivered speech at the opening in which he appreciated the facilities provided by the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Crown Prince and First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior HH Prince Muhammad bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz, and Deputy Crown Prince and Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense HH Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, may God protect them, in order to ease the visits of the delegations, the meetings, and the conducting of various activities and programs of OIC.
The Secretary General emphasized that the unfortunate developments in some Member States of the Organization, and the deterioration of the security and humanitarian situation calls for the intensification of consultations with more coordination and greater effort to establish peace in our region, and to ensure justice, decent living and development for current and future generations.
Dr. Al-Othaimeen addressed the situation in Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Mali, Central Africa, Afghanistan, Jammu and Kashmir, the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Muslim minorities in Myanmar and the Philippines, Thailand and other countries.
The Secretary General also stressed that the OIC is following the conditions of Muslim communities in all the non-member states. It has established a group specialized in following the situation of Muslims in western countries after a resolution was adopted on this regard at the thirteenth Islamic Summit in Istanbul. Indeed several discussions were held on this important issue during the visits he conducted and meetings he held with European officials, the most prominent of which were the discussions at the European Union.
The Secretary General urged for more action on activating the laws and legislation aimed at combating terrorism, and to intensify cooperation with the international community to develop a comprehensive approach taking into account all the security, economic, cultural, social, and intellectual dimensions, and focus on all forms of discrimination, extremism and the misunderstanding of Islam.
Al-Othaimeen also pointed out that work is underway for a comprehensive education scholarship program especially in the fields of medicine, engineering, technology and IT for outstanding young men and women from the member states.
On the other hand, the three-day preparatory meeting will discuss the Palestinian issue, the Arab-Israeli conflict, conflicts in the Islamic world, combating international terrorism, the phenomenon of Islamophobia and defamation of religions, and the OIC program of action until 2025, in addition to humanitarian issues, economic, legal and media.
Source: http://www.oic-oci.org/topic/?t_id=13456&t_ref=5866&lan=en