The Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu has reiterated his call on OIC Member States to increase the ownership of various programmes and projects under the Ten-Year Programme of Action. In a message read on his behalf at the opening of the 27th session of the Follow-up Committee of Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC) concluded recently in Ankara, Turkey, Prof. Ihsanoglu has highlighted the efforts being exerted by relevant OIC organs and institutions in this respect and said that discussions have been underway with various regional economic groups, calling for consideration of invoking the mechanism already approved by COMCEC to dispatch a high-level mission under the authority of Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Chairman of the COMCEC to concerned Member States to explain the need for urgent actions on the implementation of the OIC Preferential Trade System. He has informed the session of the measures being taken by the OIC and its relevant institutions to implement the recommendations of the Economic Summit held in Istanbul on 9th November, 2009, regarding the activation of cooperation in the areas of agriculture, tourism and transportation. On poverty alleviation, the Secretary General noted that while the relevant Funds namely the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD) and the Special Programme for the Development of Africa (SPDA) have made significant interventions in the critical areas, capitalization of these Funds still poses a big challenge that requires from all to come up with practical measures to improve resource mobilization for these Funds.
