CAIRO
Turkish President Abdullah Gul said that "the world economy faced important crisis in the past 5 years."
Speaking at a session directed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as part of the 12th Summit meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Cairo, President Gul provided information on the works of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the OIC (COMCEC).
"As we all know, the world economy faced important crisis in the past 5 years," Gul noted.
"In this process, unemployment rose and poverty became wider," Gul stated.
"The COMCEC has diversified its cooperation fields to eradicate the negative effects of economic developments and to find solutions to countries' common problems," Gul said.
"We have taken important steps towards activating a preferential trade system in the past five years," Gul stressed.
"The Standard&Poors OIC/COMCEC 50 Shariah Index, an important project of the COMCEC and the OIC Stock Exchange, was implemented last year," Gul said.
"I consider this index as a crucial instrument that developed in parallel to an increase in global demand for Islamic finance," Gul also said.
