Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
The Collective Voice of The Muslim World

Al-Othaimeen at Conference on “Al-Quds, Islamic Youth Capital” Stresses Importance of Connecting with the City

Date: 06/02/2018

The city of Ramallah played host on Tuesday 06 February 2018 to an OIC-sponsored conference which declared Al-Quds/Jerusalem as capital of Islamic Youth for the year 2018, and which was attended by H. E. Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine and H. E. Amb. Ilchad Skandarov, President of the OIC Youth, Dialogue and Cooperation Forum.

In his speech, delivered on his behalf by Amb. Samir Bakr Diab, OIC Assistant Secretary General for Palestine and Al-Quds, Dr. Al-Othaimeen Secretary General of the OIC affirmed his confidence that the declaration of Al-Quds/ Jerusalem as Islamic Youth Capital for the year 2018 will form a bridge through which the Member States’ youth segment may contribute to the consolidation of social, cultural, economic and political relations with the Palestinian youth and the advancement of cooperation avenues with them.

The Secretary General further stated that the OIC Youth Strategy laid stress on the importance of empowering the young and investing in them as a major priority and urged the Member States to elaborate national policies, action plans and mechanisms such as to protect the rights of the youth, improve the quality of their life and their economic and social situation, elevating them educationally and scholarly and offer them greater opportunities to partake in the decision-making process in national, regional and international affairs.

Al-Othaimeen went on to say that the conference, which placed Al-Quds at the center of interest for all the Islamic youth’s interest, will no doubt contribute to the consecration of these plans and their fixed objectives.
The Secretary General laid stress on the need to ensure that the national youth program may form a kick-off for a whole range of a year round cultural activities in the Islamic States that will enhance capacity-building programs, open up better higher education opportunities, sharpen the spirit of initiative among the youth, improve their skills and competencies and enable them to help preserve the Arab identity of Al-Quds/ Jerusalem, protect its heritage and mobilize the world public opinion in its support.

On the other hand, Al-Othaimeen renewed his invitation to all parties of the international community to collectively embrace a fair and unbiased role in favour of international protection for a multi-part peace process that would advance the peace efforts, within a well-defined timeframe based on the principles of international legitimacy, the relevant UN resolutions and the Arab peace initiative.

Related: Alquds

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