Tashkent declaration to be main document at OIC meeting

The 43rd session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will be held in Tashkent on October 18-19 under Uzbekistan’s chairmanship, Gayrat Fazilov, Uzbek deputy foreign minister, said.

Fazilov made remarks at a briefing in Tashkent October 14.

"The foreign ministers of 26 OIC member-states officially confirmed their participation in the session," Fazilov added.

Fazilov added that Iyad Ameen Madani, OIC secretary general, Bandar Al-Hajjar, president of the Islamic Development Bank, special envoys of the US, France, UK, Italy, Switzerland to the OIC, as well as representatives of the UN, the OSCE, the League of Arab States, Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), Economic Cooperation Organization will attend the meeting.

According to the approved program and agenda, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Uzbek acting president, will deliver speech at the opening meeting.

The meeting participants will discuss the maintenance of the interstate dialogue, making joint efforts to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism, as well as intensifying cooperation in political, economic, scientific, educational and cultural spheres.

More than 100 resolutions are planned to be adopted during the meeting.

The Tashkent Declaration, which will reflect the political, economic, cultural and humanitarian issues, which are on the OIC agenda, as well as the priorities of Uzbekistan’s forthcoming chairmanship in the OIC, must be the main outcome document.

The OIC was established in 1969 to ensure Islamic solidarity in social, economic and political spheres. The organization has 57 member states.

Uzbekistan became an OIC member in 1996.