OIC foreign ministers’ meeting to begin Tuesday

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - The 48th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will start Tuesday in Pakistan's capital Islamabad.

The theme of the two-day ministerial conference is “Partnering for Unity, Justice and Development.”

Foreign ministers and high-level dignitaries from OIC member and observer states will be attending the CFM.

State Councilor and Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi will attend as a special guest, said a statement from Pakistan's Foreign Ministry.

Senior officials from non-OIC countries and senior representatives from the UN system and regional and international organizations, including the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council, will also participate.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan will deliver the keynote address at the inaugural session and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi will chair the CFM.

"Apart from an appraisal of the global and regional landscapes, the CFM will inter alia reaffirm the long-standing solidarity and support of its membership with the people of Palestine and Jammu and Kashmir; reiterate its resolve to combat rising Islamophobia, and discuss strategies to counter the effects of climate change, vaccine inequity and erosion in progress towards the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals)," the statement added.

The CFM will review and assess the "grave human rights and humanitarian situation" in Indian-administered Kashmir, while the ministerial meeting of the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir will also take place on the sidelines.

The ministerial meeting, it added, will take stock of the decisions taken at the 17th Extraordinary Session of the OIC-CFM held in Islamabad in December 2021 to address the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.

The meeting will consider and adopt over 100 resolutions on a broad range of issues, including peace and security, economic development, cultural and scientific cooperation and humanitarian, legal, administrative and financial matters.

The session will coincide with the 75th anniversary celebrations of Pakistan’s Independence.​​​​​​​

Welcoming the participants, Prime Minister Khan said in a tweet that the people of Pakistan are honored with their presence.