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Program of 38th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of OIC Member States is known

27 June 2011 10:16 (UTC +04:00)

His Excellency Mr. Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, is expected to chair the opening ceremony. He will deliver the opening speech and H.E. the OIC Secretary General will present a report reviewing the activities he has undertaken since the last session. These activities were marked by intensity and outstanding results confirming the role of the OIC as a strategic partner of the international community in establishing world peace and security.

Chief among these activities is his meeting at the White House with the US President, Barack Obama, his European tour which covered Brussels where he met senior EU leaders and his official visit to the United Kingdom, the first visit ever made by an OIC Secretary General, in addition to his African tour in seven States. His activities also include review of the OIC initiatives concerning key political issues such as the Palestinian cause, the situation in Afghanistan, Somalia, the Sudan and Iraq and other important issues.

The Secretary Generalâ€™s report will address the OIC efforts concerning landmark events taking place in a number of Member States in pursuit of good governance, political participation, ensuring fundamental liberties, promoting transparency and accountability and combating corruption as provided for in the OIC Ten-Year Programme of Action.

The report addresses the conditions of Muslim communities in non-OIC Member States and the economic, cultural, scientific, technological and humanitarian issues as well as poverty alleviation and food security issues. The issue of combating Islamophobia will also be addressed and the OIC Observatory on Islamophobia will issue its fourth report on this occasion.

This session is particularly important in that it will crown a process of reform and development launched in 2005 by adopting a new name and logo for the Organisation. This change will not be a matter of form only. Rather, it will form a quantum leap in the work of the Organisation and a response to its expanding mandate and to Member Statesâ€™ aspirations to serve as their strategic framework for cooperation and interaction.

This session will be an opportunity for a mid-term review of the OIC Ten-Year Programme of Action which covers the period 2005-2015. It is also expected that an extremely important event will take place in this session, which is the adoption of the Statute of the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission and the election of its members. This represents a key development indicating that the OIC is actually involved in the defence of human rights values, principles and practice in response to the requirements of the current phase and the aspirations of the Muslim peoples.

This session is also important because it is held at a historic juncture. Concerning the Palestinian cause, which is the central cause for the OIC, this ministerial meeting is the latest such event to take place before the coming session of the UN General Assembly in mid September 2011 which is expected to consider the issue of recognising the State of Palestine. This session will, therefore, be an opportunity for consultation among Member States in order to coordinate positions and send an unequivocal message of support for the Palestinian State with Al Quds Al Sharif as its capital.

The Astana meeting will also be an opportunity to consider the landmark events taking place in a number of Member States in North Africa and the Middle East. These include events in Libya where the OIC is playing a key role in the International Contact Group and in providing assistance to refugees escaping from this country. In this connection, the Secretary General has recently dispatched a high-level mission to take stock first hand of the situation in Libya in implementation of a relevant resolution adopted by the Executive Committee at the ministerial level.

In this session a brainstorming session will be held on strengthening political stability and economic development in the Muslim world based on a concept paper prepared by the OIC. During this session, the Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir will meet and a high level meeting is expected to take place to consider the OIC Plan of Action on Cooperation with Central Asia.