Speech of H.E. Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu Secretary General of the OIC to the Annual Coordination Meeting Of the OIC Foreign Ministers

Date: 27/09/2013

NEW YORK, 27 SEPTEMBER 2013 In the name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate, Honorable Ministers Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Assalamu Alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh It is a matter of particular privilege and pride for me to address the annual coordination meeting of the OIC. As you know, the ACM meeting concentrates on the agenda items which bear particular relevance to the Muslim world in the context of the General Assembly of the United Nations. We will have the opportunity to discuss all other issues related to our expanded OIC agenda when we meet in our regular Council of Foreign Ministers session in Guinea next December. Let me avail of this occasion to ask you to reflect seriously on the imperative need to rectify the schedule of the convening of the annual session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) by setting its date prior to the convening of the ACM. By so doing, we will ensure better coordination and more effective follow-up. Excellencies Since this will be the last time for me to address the annual coordination meeting in my capacity as OIC Secretary General, I would like to praise Almighty Allah for allowing me to serve this Organization over the past nine years and to have organized - with His grace and thanks to the support of our Member States- two extraordinary and two regular summit conferences and the first economic summit in the history of the OIC. All these outstanding meetings with regular Council of Foreign Ministers and Annual Coordination Meetings in New York have helped to further increase cooperation and coordination among our Member States. Looking back at the past nine years of my service, I notice how the OIC, with the help and cooperation of all Member States, has prominently developed to a full-fledged influential collective voice of Muslim nations. As far as the UN is concerned the OIC stands today as the largest voting bloc. Its influence has been largely felt at the international scene, making it the most influential collective voice. This voice is noticeably felt at major international bodies such as the Human Rights Council and UNESCO. Here also at the UN General Assembly, we all have noticed how the OIC reached the peak of its voting capacity, when 53 of our member states collectively supported upgrading Palestine’s status at the UN. I think this feature was one of the prominent achievements that we cherish and should keep up in the future. Excellencies, It is clear that the Muslim world is plagued today by challenges as daunting and as manifold as ever before. We have followed with profound concern the developments in the cause of Palestine, particularly the efforts to resume peace talks. As part of our follow up, I visited Palestine last month and held very constructive talks with president Abbas. The impressions that I was left with after our meetings in Ramallah have deepened my belief in the need to shore up the Palestinian negotiation position. The Palestinians agreed to come back to peace talks with a good spirit, but with a view to have negotiations concluded within nine months. However, the Israeli settlement activities, especially in occupied East Jerusalem, which have manifestly escalated recently, remain the core challenge to making progress in peace negotiations and need to be seriously addressed by the international community. Israel’s settlements are illegal and will remain illegal. We have to remember that unjust acts cannot create law. On this occasion, I would like to commend the EU stance on Israeli settlements and its decision to formally have its member states differentiate between Israel and the territories occupied by Israel in 1967, and to refrain from any official dealings with Israeli institutions in these occupied areas. Our Member States, of course, are expected to go a step further, and are encouraged to do more. During my visit to Palestine in the end of last month, I paid my second visit to Al-Quds where I took stock of the developments on the ground in the light of Israel’s continued violations of international law. Israel’s violations and arbitrary measures, especially assaults on Islamic holy sites, make it imperative upon all of us to render all kinds of support to the city, its citizens and institutions. We should remember that every Muslim has a share in Al-Quds, and has a duty to support the city with all possible means. One of the important means of support that Muslims can do is to visit the city and show their attachment to it. I would like to highlight that Muslims’ visit to Al-Quds is a religious duty that represents a crucial economic and moral support to the city. On this occasion, I call upon the ummah to do what is right in this regard, and not to be deterred by calls trying to discourage Muslims from visiting their first qibla, especially at this crucial time. Consistent with the duty it endeavours to fulfill, our Organization exerted sustained efforts to support the vital socioeconomic sectors in Al-Quds. Last June, in pursuance of the 12th Islamic Summit, we held a donors’ conference in Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan, to raise funds for the Strategic Plan for the Development of Al-Quds. While a number of Member States made their contributions, the needs of Al-Quds are still huge. Accordingly, I invite all OIC member states, institutions and funds which did not make any pledges at the Donors’ Conference to provide every possible support to defend the Muslims’ first qibla. This plan is the first Islamic strategic plan that provides a strategic vision in the vital sectors namely education, health and housing which details the needs of Al Quds and maps out its priorities in vital sectors. I would like to express my hope that with your generous help, Palestinian children in Al-Quds will find schools to go to next year, have well-equipped hospitals, and a roof over their heads. Mr. Chairman, In Syria, the situation has reached a tragic level beyond all limits with the continuation of killings and bloodshed. The insecurity and mounting shelling and destruction of institutions as well as public and private properties cause daily increase in the displacement of people within Syria and create refugees in neighboring states. The dreadful attack on the suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus with internationally-banned chemical weapons, inflicting a heavy loss of lives among civilians is an extremely alarming development. The OIC remains convinced of the need to urgently work out a political solution to extricate Syria out of this bloody crisis and restore peace and security in the country. In this respect, we welcomed the proposal to put Syria’s chemical weapons under international control as a prelude toward articulating a peaceful settlement to the conflict while urging the international community to hold those responsible for the heinous crime of using chemical weapons against civilians accountable for their criminal acts. As for Mali, the OIC fully supports the government of Mali in its efforts to address the root causes of the crisis, including through dialogue and reconciliation. In my congratulatory letter to the new elected President H.E, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, I offered the Organization’s continued support to the political process in the country. I would like to seize this opportunity to call upon Member States to extend all kinds of support to the new government of Mali to achieve sustainable peace and development On Somalia, I note with satisfaction the stabilization efforts of the President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud-led Federal Government in the face of continuing security challenges. I therefore reaffirm our full solidarity with the Somali authorities in their peace building endeavors and reassure them that the OIC and its Member States will remain engaged with the principal objective of achieving sustainable peace and development in Somalia. I also urge the international community to strengthen its partnership with Somalia in order to accelerate the much needed reconstruction of the country. As the OIC General Secretariat, we have also actively participated in the international conferences on Mali and Somalia, last being held in Brussels in mid-September. In Sudan, we encouraged the Governments of Sudan and South Sudan to continue their bilateral dialogue to solve all pending issues. We also encouraged the parties that have not yet signed on the Doha Document on Darfur Peace Process to join the process in order to bring peace and stability to the region of Darfur. Likewise, we urged the international community to assist Sudan by writing off its external debt and lifting unilateral sanctions. Afghanistan is set to face up to new challenging days starting next year as it will retake full responsibility and control over its destiny. Afghan people will also take part in the important presidential election next year. Here, I wish to reassure our Afghan brothers and sisters that the OIC, as in the past, will continue to fully support the country during the crucial months and years ahead to help Afghan people to successfully ride political, security and economic challenges. We will also continue to actively contribute to the regional and international initiatives on Afghanistan. I am very much hopeful that the initiative on the Confidence-Building Measures (CBS) approved through the “Istanbul Process” in 2011 and followed through further implementation plans would help strengthen regional trust and cooperation. The OIC has already pledged its support and readiness to help implement those confidence-building measures. In another important development, and just a few days ago, an important conference of Muslim Ulema was convened in Kabul in a joint effort by the Afghan High Peace Council and the OIC. The main objective of the Conference was to establish a platform that would contribute to the reconciliation process and to exploring the ways of securing a peaceful future in Afghanistan on the basis of the teachings of Islam. I hope that the outcome of the Conference would help the people of Afghanistan to embrace a safer, better and more prosperous future. Excellencies The OIC attaches as much importance to other conflicts in the Islamic world. In this vein, it has demonstrated solidarity with Azerbaijan as regards its occupied territories in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as with the Turkish Cypriot State, Jammu and Kashmir, Cote d’Ivoire, Niger, Guinea, Yemen, Comoros Islands, Djibouti, Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as with Kosovo. At this point, as regularly indicated in various OIC Ministerial and Summit resolutions, I should particularly like to convey the plea of the Kosovo authorities to the OIC Member States to seriously consider recognizing Kosovo which have not done so yet. So far, 34 OIC Member States have recognized Kosovo and more recognition is required in order to help Kosovo achieving UN membership. It is high time for our Member States to benefit from the OIC as an institutional platform for preserving peace and security. The newly established Unit for Peace, Security and Mediation at the OIC would be extremely useful for the Member States as a tool to resolve any existing or potential conflicts within an OIC context. In this regard, we are grateful for the continued cooperation between the UN-DPA’s Mediation Support Unit in terms of training and sharing experience. Excellencies The plight of the Rohingya Muslim Minority has been a priority on the OIC agenda for the past years. As the most persecuted minority in the world they deserve the attention of all OIC Member States until their basic human rights are returned. The OIC Contact Group on Rohingya Muslim Minority has been active in the past year and in their last meeting here in New York has adopted specific recommendations including sponsoring an OIC resolution to the 68th UN General Assembly as well as sending a ministerial delegation to Myanmar in the near future, in acceptance to President Thein Sein’s invitation. The international community has a responsibility to encourage the Republic of the Union of Myanmar to deliver on its international responsibility when it comes to human rights just as it is benefitting from economic relations. No doubt, Islamophobia remains one of the grave challenges confronting our Islamic Ummah, as it targets what is most sacred to us, namely our faith and its symbols and our Prophet - May Peace be upon him- as well as our co-religionists outside the Muslim world. In this sense, we continue our efforts in cooperation with all stakeholders. I need on this occasion to highlight a major achievement of the OIC over the past couple of years as embodied by the establishment the OIC Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission. However, commendable as this achievement is, I should stress that the Commission cannot be fully functional so long as the issue of its Permanent Headquarters remains unresolved. I succeeded in obtaining the approval of esteemed Member States to set-up an interim Secretariat for the Commission, comprising officials from within the General Secretariat, to provide service to the Commission beyond their normal duties. I would therefore urge you to resolve the issue in a spirit of brotherhood and fraternity, so that the lofty objective is fulfilled. To this effect, as provided for in the Statute, I have appointed the Executive Director of the IPHRC Secretariat who would be fully at the disposal of the commission. Mr. Chairman, Just as importantly, I should indicate that managing to work out our differences and develop a strong and unified position for our Members States has helped us make the OIC Group a voting bloc to be reckoned with in the United Nations and other international fora, which is certainly a remarkable achievement. We have been able to build a network of strong international relations in a few years and become an integral part of the solutions proposed for various crucial issues. Excellencies On the humanitarian front, the OIC achievements speak for themselves. I would like to call upon Member States to strive for the establishment of a Humanitarian Emergency Relief Fund (HERF) so as to provide the General Secretariat with all necessary means to fulfill its duties towards the needy and vulnerable populations in the face of increasing humanitarian challenges in the Muslim world. As UN General Assembly will focus this year on the development agenda and the follow-up on the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, I need to point out in this connection that our achievements in the economic sector feature the steady implementation of the OIC trade preferential system, the increasing interventions under the poverty alleviation programmes, and the rigorous implementation of the various programmes and projects in the domains of agriculture and food security, labour, youth and women empowerment and productivity as well as tourism and infrastructure development, among others. It is heart-warming to note that the multi-stakeholders’ approach adopted for the implementation of the various resolutions of the OIC has resulted in the monumental but progressive increase of intra-OIC trade from 14.44% in 2004 to 18.21% in 2012. This volume of trade increase translates in monetary terms into US$742.47 billion in 2012 as compared to US$205 billion in 2004. Equally impressive is the conclusion of the approval phase of the Special Programme for the Development of Africa following allocation of the entire US$12 billion outlay under this Programme. It is therefore my sincere hope that, while we continue to make steady progress in our current programmes, projects and activities, your collaboration would also go a long way in ensuring the success of our new socio-economic projects, including the creation of a specialized institution for food security in Astana, Kazakhstan, the successor programme for the Special Programme for Development of Africa, the take-off of the Plan of Action for Cooperation with Central Asia, and the creation of a specialized institution for labour, employment and social protection in Baku, Azerbaijan. Beyond and above all these challenges and the issues related to the United Nations agenda I should emphasize that the OIC has a lot more to offer. We can be proud of what we have achieved and we should be proud of the progress so far, but clearly we have far to go. The Secretary General of the UN during his visit to the OIC Headquarters in June 2012-the first ever visit by a Secretary General of the UN to the OIC, described the UN-OIC cooperation as `strategic`. Here, I should also refer to the General Assembly Resolution on the UN-OIC Cooperation adopted last month which calls for enhanced cooperation between the two Organisations. Furthermore, I also have the pleasure to announce that a High Level Briefing on UN-OIC Cooperation will be held on 28 October 2013 under Azerbaijan’s Chairmanship of the UN Security Council. Excellencies, Our Organization holds the promise of a brighter future and its potential is limitless if aptly tapped. The OIC constitutes a basis for convergence and dilution of differences. It is a trust which survives with your support, advances with your solidarity and grows with your unity. Finally, I should, once again, express my hearty congratulations to H.E. Mr. Iyad Madani who will soon take over the reins of the OIC General Secretariat, wishing him great success during his term. In the spirit of cooperation, I have set a precedent in the work of the OIC by inviting Mr. Madani to this meeting, before starting his tenure, to meet you and to be acquainted with the agenda and issues he will be following. I must also affirm that I am willing and ready to assist the OIC in whatever way possible at any time in the future in order to serve the best interest of our Member countries and our peoples throughout the Muslim world. I wish success to our deliberations.

Other Press

No press releases assigned to this case yet.