By IINA,
Kuwait City : The Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu pledged full support to the international efforts to restore peace and stability to Iraq as well as to achieve reconstruction of the war-torn country. “The visit of the OIC team, third in the last two years, and the opening of our office are concrete indicators of our determination to make practical contribution to the efforts to help Iraq restore stability and security in the country,” the OIC Chief said in his address to the Third Expanded Ministerial Conference of the Neighboring Countries of Iraq being held here today.
Following is the full text of Prof. Ihsanoglu’s speech at the conference:
Your Highnesses, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the honor to attend and address the Third Expanded Ministerial Conference of the Neighboring Countries of Iraq, in Kuwait under the gracious and impeccable hosting of the government of the State of Kuwait. I would like to voice our gratefulness to His Highness Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohamed Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the Prime Minister of the State of Kuwait for providing his auspices to the gathering and to His Excellency Nouri Al-Maleki, Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq for personally attending the opening of the Conference. I should also like to praise His Excellency Dr. Mohammed Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, for all his tireless efforts to make this Conference a success.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Without referring to general matters related to our views on the situation in Iraq, and not to take too much time, I would like to take this opportunity to brief you on the OIC`s recent and forthcoming actions for supporting Iraq. I will be very brief. First of all, I am happy to inform you that, finally, three days ago, the OIC Office in Baghdad was opened during the visit of a high level OIC team to Baghdad. This has been praised and considered as an important, timely and encouraging development by all in Iraq. The visit of the OIC team, third in the last two years, and the opening of our office are concrete indicators of our determination to make practical contribution to the efforts to help Iraq restore stability and security in the country.
Through the activities of the OIC Office, our permanent presence in the field in Iraq will enable us to build upon our 2006 Makkah Declaration Initiative to achieve reconciliation and prevent escalation of a potentially dangerous conflict on the religious grounds, between the representatives of Iraq`s Sunni and Shiite religious groups. Members of our fact-finding delegation, who have just returned from Baghdad to join us here, engaged in extensive contacts with the members of the government and various political and religious groups.
They have observed this time that strictly from the perspective of Sunni-Shiite interplay, now there appears to be a new promising atmosphere, which was not existing in the previous years and that, the worrying situation in this regard has started to give way gradually to a new spirit of togetherness in confronting the challenges faced by Iraq.
Our delegation was told by many Iraqis that, in retrospect, the OIC-brokered Makkah Declaration Initiative was one of the positive contributors in preventing the dangerous trend of sectarian rivalry in Iraq. Therefore, with the opening of our office, in building upon our Makkah Declaration, we hope to be able to proceed from this new positive spirit to look into the ways and means of contributing more to the national reconciliation through strengthening the togetherness of the Sunnis and Shiites for working jointly for a stable, peaceful, democratic, prosperous and unified Iraq.
I would also like to inform you that we are presently working on the arrangements to send very soon, a joint task force to Baghdad, comprising representatives of all OIC Subsidiary, Specialized and Affiliated organs and institutions, including the representatives of the two institutions, IRCICA and ISESCO, which have been mentioned in the article related to the preservation of the cultural heritage of Iraq of the Final Communique that we will adopt today. Representatives of our successful Specialized Organ, Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) will also take part in this comprehensive delegation.
Your Highnesses, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen. In conclusion, I would like to assure you that the OIC General Secretariat and all OIC institutions are fully conscious of their responsibilities to the Iraqi people. They will therefore continue to endeavor to extend all possible forms of assistance to Iraq in order to achieve lasting peace and development of this brotherly country and one of the founding members of the OIC. I thank you for your kind attention.