Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
The Collective Voice of The Muslim World
Date: 10/12/2009
Khartoum, Republic of Sudan Your Excellency, President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir, Honourable Ministers Distinguished Delegates Allow me to express my sincere gratitude to His Excellency, Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir, President of the Republic of the Sudan for hosting this important meeting. I would also like to acknowledge the warm reception and the hospitality accorded me and members of the OIC General Secretariat since our arrival in this magnificent city of Khartoum. We are all assembled here today in Khartoum to deliberate on an important issue that might represent a turning point in the history of economic cooperation among Member States of the Muslim Ummah. The event of today is indeed significant in many respects. Coming at the conclusion of the 25th anniversary of COMCEC and Istanbul Economic Summit and in the wake of the landmark decisions taken on the need to advance our economic cooperation agenda, our deliberations today represent a clear testimony to the steady progress, which the Organisation is recording in promoting the economic welfare of the Muslim Ummah. It also testifies to the desire of the OIC leaders to enhance their respective actions in order to usher in a new era of socio-economic cooperation and collective development. The expected positive outcome of our deliberations at this gathering will create the needed incentive towards building a contemporary Muslim world capable of addressing the challenges of development in a rapidly globalizing economic dispensation. Your Excellencies Distinguished Delegates The quest for an effective transportation network within the OIC community did not commence today. It dates back to the Second Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers in 1970, which called on member-states to strengthen and coordinate their activities in this area. It was only seventeen years after that decision, that the 1st OIC Ministerial Meeting on transportation was held in Istanbul, Turkey in September 1987. The conclusions of that meeting could be conceived as having envisaged the preliminary steps needed to direct our efforts toward attaining our goal of establishing joint actions in this area. Notwithstanding the fact that the Organisation of the Islamic Ship-Owners Association had been formed in 1982 with the sole aim of alleviating the problems posed by poor transportation links, and the entering into force of the Statute of the Islamic Civil Aviation Council as a subsidiary organ of the OIC in 2003, the resolution adopted at the 11th Islamic Summit held in Dakar, Senegal in March 2008 on the Dakar-Port Sudan Railway project represented a watershed for the beginning of the processes towards the establishment of a meaningful transportation regime among OIC Member States. I am glad to note that, ever since the adoption of this resolution, activities have multiplied in a manner that gives positive hopes that the future of this project is very promising. The successful convening of the 1st Meeting of the Project Committee held in Jeddah in July 2008 and the subsequent set-up of the Executive Committee and an Experts Group on the Dakar-Port Sudan Railway project are pointers to the dedication of the various stakeholders on this issue. When compared with the actions taken since the idea of common transport policy was mooted in 1970, it is clear that a new momentum has been created. Evidently, this new approach of sustaining actions on issues of common concern remains the hallmark of the implementation of the Ten Year Programme of Action, which was adopted in 2005 at Makkah El-Mukarramah by our OIC Heads of State and Government. The emphasis on increased economic cooperation has now taken deep root and is bound to improve the image of this Organisation as an effective and veritable international actor. Your Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates The key thrust of the current economic agenda of the Organisation is aimed at increasing intra-OIC trade through sustained growth of OIC economies. The envisaged increase target of 20% by the year 2015 appears achievable even with the global meltdown and sharp increases in food and energy prices, which have adversely affected the economies of our member-countries. Another major component of this policy is to bring development to the rural population of OIC countries, realizing that this category of rural dwellers constitute the majority of the inhabitants of OIC countries. The fact that about 65% of the labour force in OIC countries depend on agriculture, makes the rural and agricultural sectors crucial in the development agenda of our Organisation. While poverty alleviation remains the focus of our economic cooperation agenda in the short term, the development of critical infrastructure, such as transportation link, is necessary in the medium term. Our programmes on poverty alleviation are multi-sectoral. The respective OIC agencies are making required interventions in the area of micro-credit, trade promotion, trade facilitation, export insurance and capacity-building. The provision of critical infrastructure such as rail, road, air and sea transportation links is also necessary for the stimulation of the national economies of OIC states as well as promoting regional integration within the OIC economic community. This measure would also assist the current measures aimed at expanding intra-OIC volume of trade, in such a manner as to increase national revenue earnings and the attendant growth of OIC economies. In addition, OIC countries account for one-fourth of the world population and are well endowed with potential economic resources in different fields and sectors, such as agricultural and arable land, energy and mining and human resources. An effective transportation system will also contribute to the global trading system and re-position OIC as an effective global trading partner. The density of railways compared with the total land area of the OIC region is relatively low. With a total land area of only one third that of the OIC region, the United States in 2007 has a railways network almost 3 times that of OIC countries as a group. In the same vein, countries such as Japan, France and the United Kingdom have railways network of more than two times that of OIC countries combined. The fact remains that rail transportation in OIC Countries would improve the competitiveness of exports of primary commodities, on which most of these countries depend for their national earnings. The constraints posed by poor transportation greatly hamper the growth of the economies of the OIC region, especially in the African sub-region. Poor transportation also increases the poverty level of these countries, especially those in the land-lock zone. This nexus between poverty and poor transportation network becomes apparent, judging from the fact that out of 31 land-locked states in the world, 16 of them are classified as poor countries. Whereas 12 out of these countries are OIC members, six of them are considered as least developed countries. In order to reverse this trend, efforts must be intensified to coordinate our actions and pool resources for the purpose of executing this integrative project. The proposed railway link would help the national economies of participating countries, much as it would increase trade exchanges between them. In the like manner the project will advance our current demarche towards accelerating technology transfer and employment generation. This obviously includes the multiple effects attendant on the expansion of tertiary sector. Your Excellencies Distinguished Delegates I would be amiss if I don’t dwell on the issue of mobilization of finance for this project. Judging from our experiences in project financing and the envisaged high cost outlay of this project, it is important to factor into our deliberations, considerations for international fund-raising. The comprehensive approach to the execution of this project must include extensive dialogue with identified stakeholders both within and outside the OIC. Essentially, the Private Sector establishments in our member-countries must be properly mobilized to support this effort. The new idea of private-public partnership is highly recommended so as to ensure the timely execution of this project. Having said this, I am aware that resources abound within the OIC community that should be pooled for this laudable project. In this respect, I wish to seize this occasion to call on national leaders in our member-states to muster the required political will, which is of paramount importance, if this project must take-off as urgently as it is expected. In addition to the overarching importance of political will, necessary networking must be established with our international development partners on the understanding that this project will foster multilateral economic development and expand global prosperity. I, therefore, salute the initial positive response of the various extra-OIC agencies that are represented here at the meeting today. In particular, I urge regional groupings, development institutions and multilateral development banks in African region such as ECOWAS, West African Economic and Monetary Union and others, to partner OIC in this laudable endeavor. I would like to emphasize that the proposed Dakar-Port Sudan Railways is a very viable project. It is vital for mutually beneficial economic relations within the OIC. It is also crucial for socio-cultural cooperation needed for enhanced solidarity among members of the Ummah. In the aftermath of global economic challenges, economic regionalism among countries with collective comparative advantage remains the answer. I am convinced that with the manifested determination so far and your resilience shown in recent times, the project would take off successfully. On this note of optimism, let me renew my words of appreciation to President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir for his constant support. I must also express my gratitude to the current Chairman of the OIC, President Abdoulaye Wade for his persistent reminder on the need to put adequate emphasis on economic cooperation among our member-states. I must also acknowledge the dedication of our Ministers, experts and senior officials, which have also rekindled the hope that the wagon is actually on the rail as far as this project is concerned. I wish you successful deliberations and, I look forward to the outcome of this important meeting. Thank you for attention.
