The Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, who is in Jakarta to attend the two-day proceedings of the 5th World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) that began yesterday said "this Forum is a generator of ideas on sustainable, concrete and comprehensive actions that bring economic, political and social betterment of Muslims all over the world." In an address at the opening ceremony, the Secretary General said that the main pillars of the OIC economic agenda are to achieve higher levels of development, prosperity of the Islamic countries and fostering economic and trade relations among them." Ihsanoglu noted that the OIC's Ten-Year Programme of Action has prioritized the increase of intra-OIC trade level from 14.5% in 2004 to 20% in 2015. "As such, the share of the OIC Member States in the global GDP is increasing and that there has been a steady increase in intra-OIC trade in the course of recent years as it rose to 16.67% in 2008 from its 14.5% level in 2004, " he was quoted as saying by an OIC Press Release. --MORE
