Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
The Collective Voice of The Muslim World
Date: 11/01/2012
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is promoting intra-OIC trade through stimulating foreign direct investment and industrial capacity building as a policy to tackle high unemployment in the Member States and increase investment. The Secretary General of the OIC, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu made this assertion in his address to the Forum “Saudi Arabia-Turkey: Trade and Investment Bridges”, held at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry on January 11, 2012 with the participation of HE Mr. Ali Babacan, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey, Sheikh Saleh Kamel, President of Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) and of Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Dr. Mustafa Gunay, Secretary General of Confederation of Business and Industries of Turkey. Ihsanoglu said that intra-OIC trade and investment on the part of indigenous companies in OIC Member States can contribute to the objective of increasing intra-OIC trade to 20% in 2015. He highlighted the OIC Member States’ abundant opportunities and natural resources which can be utilized towards mutually-rewarding cooperation for economic growth and social development. The Secretary General pointed to the significance of the Forum as it brings together the economic power of two leading Member States of the OIC, which will contribute to boosting trade and industrial cooperation among them and with the other Member States. “The importance of these two countries is manifest in the fact that they both dispose of a combined GDP of US$ 1.15 trillion that makes up 24% of the GDP of all OIC Member States put together. In addition, Turkey and Saudi Arabia are leading contributors to the volume of intra-OIC trade. Available recent data indicate that exports of Turkey and Saudi Arabia to OIC countries account for 13.77% and 13.32% of their overall exports respectively. In a similar vein, their imports from OIC countries are steadily increasing,” said Ihsanoglu. The Secretary General urged for more commercial cooperation among the Member States, especially that the amount of trade diverted away from OIC Member States is valued at US$ 2.6 trillion compared to the intra-OIC trade of US$ 539 billion in 2010. He called on the Member States to take advantage of the various OIC economic cooperation instruments and funding windows that facilitate such commercial cooperation. ICCI President Sheikh Kamel, in his statement, thanked the Secretary General for his great efforts at the OIC, which had changed its name to match its substance.
