Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu announced here today that the next OIC Summit will be held in Egypt in 2011. In a press statement, Ihsanoglu noted that the summit will be preceded by a meeting of Islamic Foreign Ministers in Syria next year. Ihsanoglu, who is participating in the summit of the African Union now in progress in Sharm El-Sheikh as an observer, pointed out that OIC attaches great importance to Africa, adding that 26 African countries are members of the OIC. As regards the food problem in the world, he said the OIC could positively contribute to solving this problem because the OIC's member states own large areas of lands as well as big quantities of water. Commenting on the OIC stand vis-à-vis the Iranian nuclear issue; Ihsanoglu believed that each of the OIC's member states has the right to acquire nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. He pointed out that the Muslim countries notably the Middle East countries have the right to have a region which is free from the nuclear weapons. Pointing out to the Israeli nuclear arsenal, he said the international community should not have a dual stand as regards the nuclear issue.
