ISLAMABAD
The two-day summit of foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) ended on Wednesday in Pakistan's capital Islamabad with a resolve to "promote and protect" the common interests of the Muslim world, and support the "just" causes of Palestine and Kashmir.
In a joint declaration, the participants rejected terrorism in all "forms and manifestations" and attempts to attribute it to any country, religion, nationality, race or civilization.
The 48th OIC summit was attended by foreign ministers and delegates from 57 Islamic countries and observer states.
"The declaration contents are inspired by noble Islamic values and ideals enshrined in the OIC Charter; they are anchored in the principles and purposes of UN Charter," said a statement by the Pakistani Foreign Ministry.
The Declaration, which captures the summit’s theme of "Partnering for Unity, Justice and Development," represents the "assessment of the global political, security, humanitarian, economic, and technological issues and our vision and views to address them."
The statement added: "The Declaration articulates the resolve of the OIC member states to support the just causes such as Palestine, Kashmir and others."
It vowed to unify efforts to address the common challenges faced by the Muslim world, and to uphold the "rights and interests" of Muslim minorities in the non-OIC countries.
The OIC, it added, would pursue a "shared vision" for greater social, economic, scientific, and technological development and integration within the Muslim world and beyond.
It reaffirmed a collective desire to promote harmony, tolerance, peaceful co-existence, better standards of life, as well as human dignity and understanding among all people.
The declaration includes a proposal for convening a ministerial meeting later this year or next to evolve solutions and develop mechanisms and tools to prevent conflicts and promote peace.
Islamophobia and Afghanistan
The declaration welcomed the unanimous decision of UN General Assembly to proclaim March 15 as International Day to Combat Islamophobia as well as the Islamabad summit's decision to appoint a special envoy in this regard.
Rejecting terrorism, it reiterated the OIC’s strong position against attempts to equate the legitimate struggle of people for self-determination with terrorism.
The declaration welcomed the operationalization of the Afghanistan Humanitarian Trust Fund, which was signed in March 2022 in Islamabad.
It also pointed out the member states' views on the devastating social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the climate change on developing countries, and called for a "series of concrete" actions on coronavirus vaccine equity, debt relief, countering of illicit financial flows and fulfillment of climate financing commitments as well as technology transfer and capacity building.
The declaration also acknowledged the growing role of innovation and emerging technologies in stimulating growth and digital transformation, and expressed shared resolve to promote linkages and partnerships.
Mediation initiative
Meanwhile, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that China is ready to support Islamabad's initiative of mediation between Russia and Ukraine amid war.
In his address to the OIC foreign ministers' summit on Tuesday, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan suggested that China, together with the OIC, should play a mediatory role to stop the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
"I met with Chinese Foreign Minister (Wang Yi) today and discussed this (proposal). They (China) are ready to throw their weight behind our proposal," Qureshi said while addressing a news conference along with OIC Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha in Islamabad.
"We have discussed this issue with Bahrain and Saudi Arabia as well," he said without elaborating on the response of the two Gulf states.
"I will visit China within next few days. We will further discuss this issue there," he added.
