DAKAR 10-11 March 2008 Foreign ministers prepare for the 11th Session of the Islamic Summit Conference

The foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Conference meet to prepare for the 11th ordinary summit of OIC heads of state. Israel is an evergreen issue for OIC summits, and the question is whether developments in the so-called peace process will see it higher or lower than usual on the summit agenda the ministers will put together.

The preparations include sifting the leaders' declarations after the 10th summit in 2003 and the extraordinary summit in 2005 for issues that are still viable, collecting progress reports on projects that are under way and evaluating developments that deserve a place on the 2008 summit agenda.

Muslim scholars and intellectuals were consulted ahead of the 2005 summit to identify the intellectual, cultural, political, media, economic and developmental challenges facing the Muslim world. In the summit declaration priority was given to a recommendation that OIC should promote science and research and development in member countries, using surplus oil funds. This is one of several projects that appears to be lagging, and its relative position on the agenda can be taken as a clue to whether it is going to be pursued or allowed to die. Oct/07

RELATED READING:

OIC
http://www.oic-oci.org/

All change for science in the OIC (SciDev.net 3 Oct 2007)
http://www.scidev.net/gateways/index.cfm?fuseaction=readitem&rgwid=2&item=Features&itemid=654)#uage=1

Regional power imbalance in Israel's favor (Kuwait News Agency 2 Oct 2007)
http://www.kuna.net.kw/Home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=1024656