JEDDAH: The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) senior officials meeting preparatory for the 48th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers, scheduled to take place in Islamabad in March 2022, started at the Jeddah-based headquarters of the General Secretariat on Monday.

The inaugural session has witnessed the handover of the chair from the Republic of Niger to Pakistan.

OIC Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha appreciated the continuous support provided to the organisation and its member states by the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under the wise leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and His Royal Highness, Prince Mohamed Bin Salman Al Saud, the Crown Prince.

He also commended the efforts and initiatives undertaken by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in its capacity as the chair of the 14th Islamic Summit.

Taha paid tributes to the Republic of Niger for its successful chairing of the 47th session of the CFM and also congratulated Pakistan for assuming the chair of the 48th session of CFM over the coming session.

The OIC secretary general reviewed major developments, which have taken place in some member states, as well as the main items on the agenda of the meeting.

He addressed the situation in Palestine, Afghanistan, occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Yemen, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Mali, the Sahel Region and Lake Chad Basin and other African countries, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Muslim communities and minorities in non-member States.

Taha underlined the need to overcome the challenges being faced by the member states to ensure peace, stability and development and to achieve the aspirations of their people.

He reaffirmed the determination of the General Secretariat to give a new impetus to the efforts of the OIC to attain those goals.

He stressed the need to strengthen the capacities of the OIC in the areas of peace, preventive diplomacy and mediation, counterterrorism and combating Islamophobia, along with the response efforts to the Covid-19 challenges.

Also Read

Women’s camel beauty contest makes debut in Saudi Arabia

RUMAH: Saudi women, in a first for the kingdom, have paraded their...