site yesterday, Turkey's Minister of State Dr. Cevdet Yilmaz, who is also the Chairman of the Follow up Committee, thanked the OIC for all its support to COMCEC and reiterated the commitment of the Turkish Government to the economic development and welfare of the Muslim World. He invited all the OIC Member States to actively participate in the “Meeting of the Central Bank Governors of the OIC Member States” and the “Meeting for Cooperation among Stock Exchanges of the OIC Member States”, to be held in October 2009 in Istanbul, Turkey. In another message to the opening session of the meeting, Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the Secretary General of the OIC, drew the attention of the meeting to the fact that the OIC Member States are adversely affected by the ongoing international financial and economic crisis, high commodity prices and energy price fluctuation. "Challenges confront the OIC Countries' efforts to enhance their economic progress and their programmes to alleviate poverty, combating diseases, famine and illiteracy". The Secretary General emphasized on the need for urgent cooperation to address these critical issues. --MORE
