Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
The Collective Voice of The Muslim World
Date: 15/12/2015
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will hold a “Media Forum on the African Continent: Image and Investment Opportunities” to be hosted by the Kingdom of Morocco in Marrakech from 17 – 19 December 2015. Prominent editors and journalists from Africa as well as diplomats, academics and representatives of international organizations would participate in the media forum. Over the course of three days, the forum would discuss the role of the media in projecting a positive image of Africa. It would also discuss ways of advancing the image of Africa in African and international media and the role of the media in overcoming stereotypes about Africa restricted to images of wars, poverty and hunger. It would improve the image of the continent by highlighting its capabilities as well as natural and human resources. The media strategy of the OIC to encourage Islamic investment aimed at meeting the development needs of Member States would be presented. Also to be discussed is the possibility of setting up an OIC media system that would serve as a tool for promoting investment opportunities in Africa at the international level. The role of the media in encouraging trade exchange and investment opportunities in African OIC Member States and the status of the continent in the Muslim world system would also be considered. Some of the key themes of the media forum are: importance of media and communication in attracting contracting to investment opportunities in Africa, with the participation of businessmen, investors and journalists specializing in economic issues. The aim is to enable journalists to be briefed about the available investment opportunities and the approved legal framework as well as facilities offered to attract investment. The forum would also witness the presentation by some African journalists of successful models in various fields and discussion on how to facilitate the task of journalists to access information. It should be mentioned that the organizing of the media forum on Africa is one of the proposals of the 9th session of the Islamic Conference of Information Ministers held in Libreville, Gabonese Republic in April 2012. That conference adopted a resolution calling for the convening of a media forum targeting the media to discuss investment opportunities in Africa and highlight its huge latent potentials.
