Islamic countries launches strategy to enhance economic cooperation

More than 50 Islamic countries launched a comprehensive strategy a bid to enhance economic and commercial cooperation at an OIC ministerial meeting here on Wednesday. The strategy highlighted six cooperation areas of trade, transport, tourism, agriculture, poverty alleviation and finance. It has a vision to build a prosperous Islamic Ummah based on solidarity and interdependence, enhanced mobility and good governance. OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said at the 28th Session of the COMCEC that " the target of attaining 20 percent on intra-OIC trade will be attained by 2015." The intra-trade figures reached 687 billion U.S. dollars in 2011 as against 205 billion U.S. dollars in 2004, he added. He said that the issue of financing of OIC projects has constituted another area requiring further attention in a collective and holistic manner. While addressing ministers and specialists from more than 50 Islamic countries at the meeting, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that cooperation under the roof of COMCEC would be boosted in the coming years. Global economic problems affected not only Europe and the United States but also OIC member states, he said. Islamic countries had things to do to bring a sound and stable structure to global economy, he added. Erdogan stressed that free movement should be increased, solidarity should be boosted and management should be bettered among the member countries. He also noted that there was need for a change in position of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC) for implementation of new cooperation structure and vision. "Within this context, member countries should have more active roles," Erdogan said.