Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
The Collective Voice of The Muslim World
Date: 04/05/2010
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 3-4 May 2010 Mr. Chairman, Distinguished Delegates I am extremely delighted to attend this 2nd meeting of the Development and Cooperation Institutions of OIC member-states. Allow me to seize this auspicious occasion to thank His Royal Highness, Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, the Government and the people of the United Arab Emirates for hosting this important meeting and for the elaborate hospitality extended to me and my delegation as well as for the excellent arrangements made to ensure the success of this historical gathering. I must also extol the significant contributions made by the Chairman and officials of the Abu Dhabi Fund through their diligent follow-up of the plans involved in the organisation of this meeting. In the same vein, I recognize the untiring efforts of the Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Center for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) in the organization of this meeting. There is no doubt that new emphasis, which the OIC has placed on active economic cooperation among OIC member-states, did not spring from the vacuum. It is based on the realization that Islamic solidarity can only be meaningful if they are properly anchored on the acknowledged principles of Islamic solidarity, economic cooperation, and shared social values. The vision of the Kings, Presidents and Heads of State of the OIC as encapsulated in the Ten Year Programme of Action is aimed at strengthening the economies of OIC member-states and ensuring that the welfare and better livelihood for the Muslim Ummah are given due attention. It is based on this premise that numerous programmes were put in place towards addressing the phenomena of hunger, deprivation, destitution and poverty, which have become the bane of our developmental process in OIC countries. There is therefore no doubt that the support for sustainable development programmes of OIC countries are aimed at stimulating economic growth and at the same time arresting the steady deterioration in the living conditions of our peoples. Mr. Chairman, Distinguished Delegates, I am glad to note that these various programmes in the area of agricultural development, cooperation in the tourism sector, trade promotion and private sector-led investment activities, have been receiving the support of OIC governments and institutions. The implementation of the cotton rehabilitation project is already at the funding phase, even as the quantum of trade financing support for the Private Sector continues to be on the increase. The intra-OIC trade has improved from 14.44% in 2004 to 16.66% in 2009, notwithstanding the hiccups created by the global economic meltdown. These achievements on the economic front were made possible, thanks to the dedication of OIC leaders and their respective determination to transform this inter-governmental Organisation into a veritable international actor, capable of driving the process of economic change and prosperity in all its member-countries. I am also pleased to report to this august gathering that the report on the various activities of the newly created Department of Humanitarian Affairs in the General Secretariat in the area of mobilizing and coordinating emergency humanitarian relief assistance has confirmed the wisdom in the directives issued at the Dakar Summit held in March 2008. The impact of these activities is being felt in our member-states as OIC responses in disaster areas are becoming very robust. In this regard, OIC interventions in the area of food security and poverty alleviation have shown the efficiency of the coordination efforts of OIC as well as the evolving partnerships with the various national and philanthropic agencies in our countries. OIC relations with the International Civil Societies and Non Governmental Organisations are also being formalized through the elaboration of a Code of Conduct. Mr. Chairman Distinguished Delegates In spite of this seeming impressive score-sheet, available statistics indicate that we are still far from attaining the targets set-out in the Ten-Year Programme of Action. The statistics of socio-economic indicators in OIC countries are still very daunting, if we consider the fact that the number of persons who live on one dollar a day in the world has now reached 1.3 billion in the wake of the global food crisis. This situation has aggravated the sufferings of the peoples living in facing the Least Developed Countries, which constitute one third of OIC population. Furthermore, an alarming number of 41 OIC countries is considered as food-deficit countries, while a whooping sum of $24.5 billion is needed every year to import food to OIC countries. Similarly, the number of hungry people in need of emergency food supplies continues to rise, as political crises and natural disasters assume global dimension. This is notwithstanding the fact that OIC countries feature among top 20 producers of major agricultural commodities. In the face of these situations, there is a dire need for further coordination of intra-OIC responses on agricultural and industrial capacity building as well as development issues. Experiences have shown that national efforts are always not adequate in addressing the multiple problems of development and emergency demands. This is more so when one considers the recent effects of the global food, energy and financial crises, which have reduced national and household incomes considerably. Worse still, there is the attendant dwindling of the official development assistance to our countries, such that has also posed a major constraint to huge investment flows needed to scale up productivity in critical sectors of the economy. This picture becomes even gloomier, given the fact that most of the countries lack the capacity to absorb official development assistance, donors’ fatigue, and weak coordination of aid to OIC member states. You would therefore realize the source of my satisfaction at the convening of this meeting. Your current demarches to coordinate the operations and strategies of your respective institutions are grounded in sound economic principles and proper reasoning. The cooperation among donors would increase the effectiveness of economic assistance and technical support offered to our countries and would create the required synergy for an active intra-OIC action in the development area. I therefore urge you to borrow a leaf from the recent experiences whereby the OIC General Secretariat has succeeded in institutionalizing the annual meeting with Civil Society Organisation and NGOs, since the first meeting was successfully held in Dakar, Senegal in 2008, and the latest one held in Doha, Qatar in March 2010. This coordination work along with the growing strategic partnerships on socio-economic issues between OIC and regional and international development agencies has brought about a coordinated and efficient allocation of resources in responding to various emergencies in OIC countries. This successful experiment can be replicated in dealing with issues of medium term and long issues of economic development and official development assistance so as to improve upon the visibility of our respective development assistance and to effectively collaborate together to avoid waste and duplication of efforts, while enthroning the culture of best practices. It is my sincere hope that your deliberations today would usher in a new phase in intra-OIC relations, whereby we can leapfrog the stages of development that have eluded us in the past. The implementation of the Ten Year Programme of Action is now on course and all efforts at increasing the effectiveness of this Pan-Islamic action would benefit the Muslim Ummah and humanity at large and would certainly be included in the annals of enduring charity “sadakat jariya” in favour of you all. I thank you for your kind attention. Wasalam alaekun warahamatullahi wabarakatuhu.
