The Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu has commended the statement of the French President Francois Hollande in the joint press conference he held with the Palestinian president on 8 June 2012. In particular he commended France's readiness to exert all efforts possible to facilitate the negotiation process which would lead to peace and recognition of the Palestinian state along the 1967 border, and his emphasis that France has consistently called for a freezing of settlement. The Secretary General also praised the progress in the Palestinian-French relations and France's support for the budget of the Palestinian National Authority as well as its contribution in support of development in the occupied Palestinian territories. The Secretary General expressed his hope that the new French leadership would continue to work with its other partners in the European Union to achieve peace in the Middle East on the basis of resolutions of international legitimacy. At the same time he underscored the OIC's support for Palestine's effort to approach the United Nations General Assembly for recognition as a non-member state of the international community.
