Senior officials from member states meet to prepare for OIC summit in Gambia

The preparatory meeting for the fifteenth session of the Islamic Summit Conference began on Tuesday April 30, 2024 in Banjul, the capital of the Republic of Gambia, where the Islamic Summit Conference will be held on 4 and May 5, 2024. The objective of the meeting is to discuss the documents of the session and present its report to the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers, which, in turn, will present a report to the Islamic Summit Conference. At the start of the meeting, His Excellency the Advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on International Multilateral Affairs, Dr. Abdullah Al Tayer, delivered a speech on behalf of his country as President of the Islamic Conference at the Summit of its fourteenth session. He reviewed the efforts, initiatives and achievements in economic, scientific activities, and the numerous conferences in various sectors organized by the Kingdom during its presidency of the previous session, expressing support for the efforts of the Genera l Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. For his part, Mr. Lang Yabou, Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the International Cooperation of The Gambia, expressed, on behalf of his country, which is hosting the fifteenth session of the Islamic Summit Conference, his welcome to the delegates of the Member States , confirming that his country is making all its efforts to ensure the success of the session held under the theme 'Strengthening unity and solidarity through dialogue for sustainable development'. The OIC Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs, Mr. Yousef AlDobeay, delivered a speech in which he extended his sincere congratulations to the Republic of The Gambia on assuming the presidency of this session, once again thanking plus the Gambian government for the excellent arrangements made to host this summit. He also expressed his deep appreciation and gratitude to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its valuable and appreciated efforts and initiatives during its presiden cy of the Fourteenth Islamic Summit, reaffirming its strong commitment to joint Islamic action and mission of the OIC. AlDobeay praised all the support provided by the Kingdom to the OIC as host country, under the auspices and eagerness of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman. The Assistant Secretary General clarified that this summit, which was being held at a critical time, witnessed developments of great importance on various issues on the OIC agenda, foremost among which the issue Palestinian, the central question of the organization. 'The Summit will discuss, in addition to the summit documents, issues of peace, security, Muslim societies and minorities in non-member States, as well as legal, humanitarian, social, cultural, economic, scientific, technological, media, administrative and financial,' he declared. The Banjul Summit represents a unique opportunity for OIC Member States to stre ngthen their cooperation with a view to strengthening common Islamic action and engaging in constructive dialogue on global issues and challenges facing the Islamic nation. confronted. Source: Burkina Information Agency