David Miliband: I want to recognise the way that the Secretary General during his term of office has been a voice for engagement, a voice for moderation, again a voice for cooperation, and I think it's a testimony to the work that he's doing that we, that he has such a full programme in the United Kingdom. He's meeting a range of Government organisations but also engaging in civil society. And the theme of building inter faith and cross cultural understanding has been at the heart of our talks over the last forty five minutes or so.

I think it's fair to say that in this country we are proud of many of the ways in which Britain stands up for the rights of all its citizens, whatever their race or their religion. We have some of the strongest laws against religious hatred anywhere in the world. But we know that there is always more work to do to build understanding within our own country and also to take that internationally. And one of the commitments we make is that we know that in order to tackle many of the problems of the modern world, problems of conflict, problems of poverty, problems of climate change, problems of economic instability, we need much greater cooperation between countries like my own and Muslim majority countries around the world.

We have committed first of all to promote greater understanding of the Islamic world, or Islamic worlds, plural, by, as a way of promoting greater respect. We know that there are serious debates about reform inside the Muslim majority countries and we support the promotion of universal values of human rights and free speech and democratic governance.

We also know that there are substantial grievances that many people in the Muslim majority countries feel. Some of them are real and those that are real need to be addressed in a serious way. In our discussions today, ranging from the Middle East to Africa to Europe we've talked about how those grievances can be addressed, and I'm very grateful for the open and frank and honest and positive way in which the Secretary General has tried to engage in those debates.

We know that the OIC has a diverse membership and the, the Secretary General has a job to do to balance the different parts of his membership. I think it's very important that countries like Britain, which have a substantial Muslim population, are able to engage with organisations like the OIC. The OIC made an important contribution to our Afghan Conference in January and I very much look forward to more meetings like we had today to further cooperation in the months ahead.

Thank you very much indeed.

Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu: Thank you. Today we had very fruitful talks and have exchanged views on ways and means to enhance bilateral cooperation between OIC and the United Kingdom of all issues of mutual concern as well as for more cooperation between OIC and EU.

I conveyed to the Foreign Secretary the deep concern of OIC over the recent worrying developments in the Occupied Territories of Palestine particularly East Jerusalem. In our view the recent procedures by Israel related to the settlements would not only jeopardise the chances of the resumption of peace negotiation but also create an atmosphere of confrontation. I would like to take this opportunity to once again call upon the international community to put serious pressure on Israel. I also had the opportunity to brief the Foreign Secretary on the OIC's efforts has to maintain peace and security and to address the humanitarian needs, especially in OIC member states such as Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia. The situation in, in, Yemen and Nigeria also came up in our discussion.

I have discussed also OIC's endeavours in promoting innovation, modernisation and economic development in the Muslim world as well as fighting extremism and terrorism. We emphasised the need to promote understanding and tolerance and the potential in defusing tension and removing mispresentations which have recently affected the relations between the Muslim world and the West. It is my conviction that with its respect of the Muslim world and its experience in cherishing understanding and tolerance, the UK, United Kingdom, can play a crucial role in the better understanding of the positions and concerns of the Muslim world.

We expressed our satisfaction over recently established ties of cooperation between OIC and DfID in the field of international development of relief and humanitarian assistance. I'm happy to be meeting after this meeting with Mr Mike Foster, Minister of International Development.

The Foreign Secretary and I have agreed to continue our mutual relationship, engagement and consultations in all the issues and I have extended an invitation to him now again to visit OIC headquarters.

David Miliband: Thank you very much.

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu: Thank you.

David Miliband: Thank you.