IOFS officials Director-General of IOFS Mr. Yerlan Baidaulet and Mr. Nursalim Suleimenov attended the Ministerial Session of the 35th COMCEC General Assembly held in Istanbul, Turkey on 27-28 November 2019. It is necessary to note that H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of the Republic of Turkey and Chairman of COMCEC received all heads of delegations. During the Ministerial Session, participants exchanged views on the “Promoting Sustainable Food Systems in Islamic Countries” theme that is very relevant to the core mandate of IOFS. The entire OIC region requires sustained efforts to build a resilient food security system. IOFS core mandates are sharing knowledge and technology on agriculture, rural development and food security, addressing such drivers of food insecurity as desertification, deforestation, erosion, and salinity, trans-border diseases as well as meeting emergency needs in food security.
During the session, apart from Report on COMCEC Strategy and its Implementation, there were interesting and fruitful debates on several important matters such as the Implementation of the OIC-2025: Programme of Action, World Economic Developments with Special Reference to the OIC Member Countries, Intra-OIC Trade, Enhancing the Role of Private Sector in Economic Cooperation, Improving Transport and Communications, Developing a Sustainable and Competitive Tourism Sector, Increasing Productivity of the Agricultural Sector and Sustaining Food Security, Alleviating Poverty, Deepening Financial Cooperation and Promoting Sustainable Food Systems in Islamic Countries.
In addition, important matters that should be outlined are signage of Memorandum of Understanding between IOFS and Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB), as well as between IOFS and SESRIC.
IsDB is a group of international financial institutions consisting of the Islamic Development Bank (ISDB), the Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) and the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC).
SESRIC is a subsidiary organ of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) founded to collate, process and disseminate socio-economic statistics and information for utilization by member countries; study and evaluate economic and social development of member countries to help generate proposals that would initiate and enhance cooperation among them. These memorandums will enable IOFS to maintain close cooperation with all OIC organs and improve coherence and synergy in the implementation of the OIC policies and programs.
Within the context of COMCEC General Assembly, IOFS representatives conducted several bilateral talks with heads of delegations from OIC member states and OIC institutions. Among them, talks with heads of delegations from Mozambique, Tajikistan, ITFC, ICCIA, and ICDT should be outlined. Sides discussed issues such as sharing of technical expertise on aspects of sustainable agriculture, rural development, food security, emergency and humanitarian response, including the creation of food security reserves, mobilization and management of financial and agricultural resources for development, etc.
