Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
The Collective Voice of The Muslim World
Date: 03/09/2006
His Excellency President Ilham Aliyev His Excellency Bulent Arinc, Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly and the Chairman of the OIC Inter Parliamentary Union, Their Excellencies Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan and Prime Minister Shawkat Aziz, His Excellency Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Abdullah Gul, His Excellency Mayor of Istanbul Kadir Topbas, Their Excellencies the Ministers from various OIC Member States, Distinguished President, Director General and members of the OIC Youth Forum, Distinguished Guests and dear friends, It is my great pleasure and happiness to be able to be here today on the occasion of the inauguration of the Headquarters of the Islamic Conference Youth Forum for Dialogue and Cooperation, the newest member of the OIC family. The Organization of the Islamic Conference is going through profound changes by redefining and restructuring itself with additional focus on development, socio-economic and cultural issues. Therefore, establishment of an organ affiliated to the OIC in the field of youth development is completely in line with our new vision. I believe that this would certainly fill in an important gap in the OIC family. My heartfelt gratitude goes to our able and dedicated young colleagues who have initiated the establishment of this Forum with diligent work and also to the Member States who have supported the process of introducing the Youth Forum into our family during the 32nd and 33rd Islamic Conferences of Foreign Ministers. On this auspicious occasion, I would like to take the opportunity to express my appreciation to H.E. Recep Tayyib Erdogan and to H.E. Abdullah Gul for allocating a prime space in the World Trade Center for the Headquarters of the Youth Forum. Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, This inauguration ceremony is taking place at a time when we at the OIC General Secretariat are exerting efforts and working hard to effectively implement various mandates of the OIC Ten Year Program of Action that was adopted at the historic Third Extraordinary OIC Summit held in Makkah Al Mukarramah in December 2005. Among other issues, this Ten Year Program of Action calls upon all the Member States to support and promote programs and forums oriented towards the development of the youth. While we might have high expectations from the OIC Youth Forum for Dialogue and Cooperation, we should keep in mind that besides the support of the General Secretariat, they would also require and would depend on the support and encouragement of the Member States in achieving their goals and objectives. I am especially appreciative of the OIC Youth Forum`s energetic and successful initiatives in order to establish ties and channels of cooperation with various International and European organizations and institutions within such a short period of time. The cooperation documents that will be signed tonight are the best testament to their impressive success. It is our expectation that this forum as the representatives of the youth of the OIC Member States would play an important role within the international community through interaction and cooperation with other governmental and non-governmental organizations which would certainly include the implementation of the Alliance of Civilizations project as well as other international dialogue and cultural exchange efforts. We also shall be supportive of their efforts to cooperate with the UN Agencies in particular with UNESCO, Council of Europe, OSCE, European Union and others. I am confident that the specialized organs within the OIC system, primarily IDB and ISESCO will continue their already rendered commendable support to the efforts taken by the OIC Youth Forum in the international arena. Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, As you all are aware of the fact that the youth and women issues have gained special prominence within the social development endeavors of the international community. They are two of the most prominent factors set within the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations. Accordingly our own societies also expect the OIC to be more involved in these matters devising special programs and furthering intra-OIC cooperation. To fulfill this expectation completely besides this youth forum we also need specifically to focus on women related issues as well. I am hopeful that following this important step which we are concretizing tonight, we shall be able to record another new success with the introduction of a new affiliated organization bringing together all women related NGOs of the OIC Member States. On this issue, I would like to count on the valuable support of our Member States and especially of Your Excellencies who are present here tonight. I am confident that during the first OIC Ministerial Conference on Women, yet another would be historic event for the OIC, to be held in this beautiful city on 21-24 November 2006, we shall have opportunities to render extensive deliberations on this issue. Ladies and Gentlemen This inspires me to refer to the historic decision taken in the 33rd ICFM in Baku of granting OIC observer status to the NGOs of the Member States. This is another new aspect of the reinvigorated OIC that you were all wishing to see. I am sure that this new organizational aspect would further strengthen the OIC family within the international community. In conclusion, I would like to reiterate my happiness to be amongst you at this unique gathering. I wish every success to our young brothers in their colossal but honorable task and in rendering their difficult responsibilities, which I am sure they will be able to fulfill in a way which would bring credit and praise to the OIC family. I can mention that the mere fact that they are able to bring such high level dignitaries and guests to their inauguration ceremony and to draw the world media attention is itself a strong enough evidence of the expected success in their future endeavours. Thank you all for your attention. Dolmabahce palace-Istanbul, 3 September 2006
