OIC Foreign Ministers Council to Meet in Tashkent

Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan, will be hosting on 18-19 October 2016 the proceedings of the forty third session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM). The OIC Director General of Political Affairs, Ambassador Tariq Ali Bakhiet, indicated that the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Kuwait, Chairman of the forty second session of the CFM, Shaikh Sabah Khalid Al-Hamad al-Sabah, will preside over the inaugural session and welcome the interim president of the Republic of the Uzbekistan, H.E. Mr. Shavket Mirziyoyev.

The interim president will then deliver a statement followed by H.E. the OIC Secretary General, Mr. Iyad Ameen Madani who will present in his statement the OIC’s views of the challenges ahead within the political security, economic, cultural, social and humanitarian framework.

According to the program, this will be followed by the handing over of the Council’s chairmanship to H.E. the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Abdulaziz Kamilov, who will also deliver a statement on the occasion.

The inaugural session, Amb. Bakhiet added, will also witness a debate on the theme of the forty third session of the CFM: “Education and Enlightenment: the Path to Peace and Creativity”. Furthermore, the OIC Centre for Dialogue, Peace and Understanding will be officially launched at the inaugural session in a special ceremony.

He further pointed out that key among the resolutions to be considered by the Council are those relating to the Palestine issue, the situation in Syria, Yemen, Libya, Mali and the Republic of Central Africa, in addition to the issues of the Muslim communities in non-OIC Member States, particularly in Myanmar. The meeting will also examine important resolutions concerning combating terrorism, radicalism, disarmament and countering Islamophobia.

The second day of the CFM proceedings will witness the adoption of resolutions already approved at the preparatory meetings that were held at the OIC headquarters in Jeddah. The resolutions cover political, humanitarian and economic affairs as well as the OIC program up to 2025, in addition to the legal and organic matters and issues of information, science and technology, information technology, cultural and social affairs, women affairs, dialogue and outreach, with the meeting to wind up with the issuing of the “Tashkent Declaration”.

Amb. Bakhiet, further added that in the course of the 43rd session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers a special brainstorming session will be held under the title of “Increasing opportunities and boosting the creative capacities of the younger generations”.