Dhaka to host OIC foreign ministers' meet next year

Bangladesh will host the next OIC foreign ministers' meeting in the second quarter of 2018.

The decision was made at the OIC's senior officials meeting in Jeddah on Tuesday.

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

A draft resolution was unanimously adopted welcoming the bid of Bangladesh for hosting the 45th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of the 57-member organisation, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

This will be the second time CFM is taking place in Dhaka since Bangladesh hosted the 14th Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers on December 6-11 in 1983. The Dhaka conference adopted final declaration and took resolutions on organisational, political, economical, cultural and administration issues.

Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque led the Bangladesh delegation at the meeting, which decided on many important issues of Muslim Ummah for the betterment of lives of Muslim Ummah in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states.

The meeting also adopted a number of resolutions, including one on the Rohingya minorities. “Through this resolution the member states expressed their 'serious concern' over the situation of Rohingya Muslim population in the Northern Rakhine State of Myanmar,” said the statement.

OIC called for early implementation of recommendations of the Advisory Commission on Northern Rakhine State led by Kofi Annan, and also restoration of Citizenship Act of Myanmar to provide opportunity to Muslim minorities there and sustainable repatriation of Rohingyas from Bangladesh to Rakhine state.

The foreign secretary called on Secretary-General of OIC Dr Yousef A Al-Othaimeen at the sidelines of the meeting.

The secretary-general accepted the invitation of Bangladesh to visit the country at the earliest.