The UAE is participating in the ministerial meetings of the 33rd session of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, COMCEC, which started today in Istanbul.

A delegation led by Abdullah bin Ahmed Al Saleh, Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Economy for Foreign Trade Affairs, is representing the country.

Al Saleh highlighted the UAE’s desire to participate in the activities of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, OIC, due to their economic, cultural, and social importance, as well as to maintain fruitful channels of co-operation in all areas between OIC member countries. These meetings are also a useful platform for representatives of member countries to express their opinions on how to deal with various issues related to the OIC’s programmes and goals and the means of strengthening their joint co-operation, he added.

Al Saleh stressed the importance of the agenda of the ministerial meetings, which includes 13 items on the strategy of the COMCEC, launched in 2013, and its executive mechanism. He as well as noted the importance of maintaining effective co-ordination and communication between OIC member countries to ensure success for the strategy and to achieve its goals.

Al Saleh emphasised the importance of the agenda to the OIC’s relevant work programme, which extends over a period of ten years between 2016 and 2025, as well as discussing international economic developments and their consequences for member countries.

He also noted the importance of discussing internal trade between OIC member countries, as the expansion of trade exchange is one of the COMCEC’s most important goals and a permanent topic on the agenda of the OIC’s meetings.

The current session of the COMCEC discusses the significant measures that can be taken to improve the effectiveness of the "single-window systems" adopted by OIC member countries, as well as how to strengthen their co-operation on this issue and to monitor the benefits obtained from specialised economic zones with the ultimate objective of achieving economic development, he said.