Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
The Collective Voice of The Muslim World
Date: 05/10/2012
Your Excellency Mr. Angel Gurria, Secretary General of the OECD, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Permit me, first and foremost, to express my sincere gratitude to His Excellency Mr. Angel Gurria, the Secretary General of the OECD, for graciously inviting me to address the Permanent Council of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). We in the General Secretariat of the OIC places high value to the closer cooperation, which is steadily developing between the OIC and OECD. This new approach is borne out of the on-going measures aimed at repositioning the OIC as a veritable international actor in all spheres, including promoting socio-economic development and welfare of Member States. In this regard, cooperation based on community of interests, to enhance global peace and development is strongly supported by our organizations. The international economic landscape has shifted and global development issues have come to the forefront. OECD's efforts to advance global development process through its know-how, expertise and other capabilites, have the same aim as the OIC, which makes the development platform a natural area of cooperation. I am pleased to note that two prominent members of the OIC-Turkey as a founding member, and Indonesia as a key partner- have special relations and cooperation with the OECD. It is also gladdening to note that the OECD has recently assumed a leading role in mobilising support for the various reconstruction efforts in countries in transition. There is therefore no doubt that relations between the OIC and OECD have assumed new heights, considering the fact that most of the transition countries are in OIC Member States. We positively observe that the OECD, through its Middle East and North Africa Inıtiave, has stepped up efforts to assist the countries of this region in building their economies and make reform happen. This generates yet another natural area for cooperation between the two organizations taking into account the fact that most of the transition countries are OIC members. Significantly, our joint action stems from our desire to expand global prosperity and international cooperation. This action is aimed at confronting the global economic crises, which have led to the current socio-political turmoil in a number of countries in our region. It is, therefore, appropriate for us to improve our strategies towards mobilizing all available economic potentials to increase people’s welfare and thereby addressing the unfortunate trends of poverty and deprivation in our countries. In this context, I appreciate the on-going High Level Partnership Dialogue between the OECD Development Assistance Committee and the Arab Coordination Group Institutions. The last meeting of this High level Partnership Dialogue identified the need to support human capital development and youth employment in view of the fact that some countries are currently transiting from centrally planned economies to more inclusive, just, people-centered, and equitable political and economic systems. The pre-occupation of the OIC since the adoption of the OIC Ten Year Programme of Action in 2005 was to translate the long term socio-cultural bonds and geographical affinities among our peoples to increased collaboration and cooperation in the economic field. This is with a view to increasing competitiveness among our industries, thereby promoting economic growth and sustainable development in OIC countries. This initiative is invariably borne out of the realization that 21 out of the 57 Member States of the OIC are classified as Least Developed Countries, where a great number of the populations live on less than two dollars a day. This is in addition to the fact that the economies of a host of these countries are dependent on export of primary commodities. More than 50% of OIC populations live in rural areas, with limited access to such social facilities as water, sanitation and education. Although the current priorities of the OIC emphasizes intra-OIC investment through creation of special development funds, the support of OECD and other international stake-holders is crucial to realising our developmental aspirations. On our part, I am glad to inform this august assembly that intra-OIC trade has increased considerable due to the various trade facilitation and trade financing measures adopted within the OIC. Due to the implementation of this trade promotion measures the intra-OIC trade increased from 14% in 2004 to 17.71% in 2011. In monetary terms intra-OIC Trade increased from US$ 205 billion in 2004 to US$ 687.74 billion in 2011. For similar reasons, the OIC share of world trade increased from 7.87% in 2004 to 10.8% in 2011. Furthermore, various programmes were put in place within the OIC for poverty eradication, trade promotion and human capital development, among others. The creation of the OIC poverty alleviation fund, which commenced operations in 2008, has, to date, expended an amount of US$855 million in as many as 27 OIC Member States, through its twin programmes of micro-finance and vocational literacy. Similarly, the removal of trade barriers was given due attention, since the high cost of doing business in OIC Member States have generated low incentives and low productivity for trade activities. In addition to creating awareness among the governments of OIC countries on trade facilitation, the role of the Private Sector is duly recognized in the scheme of affairs. Accordingly, with the recent entry into force of the OIC Trade Preferential System (TPS-OIC), its protocol and the Rules of Origin, the way is paved for the active participation of the Private Sector in increasing trade exchanges within OIC. We would also need to create forums for cooperation between public officers and the Private Sector operatives so as to increase knowledge sharing on how to implement our tariff reduction agreements, reduce the cost and time of doing business, and promote an economic policy advocacy that is led by the Private Sector. Evidently, the OIC strategy of adopting a multi-stakeholders’ approval to economic cooperation is aimed at promoting South-South Cooperation, in addition to the copious support and assistance being received from our traditional partners from the North. In this regard, OECD Member States are kindly invited to renew their support for the scaling up of the official development assistance to OIC Member States, in order to address the problems posed by paucity of investments in our countries. It is very striking that ODA to development countries has reduced from 17% of the GDP of recipient countries in the last decade to about 3% in recent times. Whereas, ODA from donor countries are far less than the global recommended proportion of 0.7% of GNI. Today, I will also have the opportunity to explore options to collaborate with the OECD Development Center, which has done an excellent job to reach out to the non-OECD geography. We will be looking forward to cooperating with the Development Center in designating what the economic and social challenges are and what could be offered as possible solutions. In conclusion, let me reiterate our desire in the OIC to consolidate and deepen our relations and collaboration on development issues so as to promote global prosperity, peace and security as well as good political and economic governance. I thank you for kind attention.
