OIC FMs' meet opens in Tehran today

The four-day 30th OIC Foreign Ministers' Conference begins today at the Islamic Republic of Iran's Broadcasting (IRIB) conference centre here in the backdrop of recent events in Iraq.

Except Iraq, all the 57 member countries of OIC (Organisation of Islamic Conference) have been invited to attend the conference. Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan will lead the Bangladesh delegation.

Conference chairman and Iranian Foreign Minister Syed Kamal Kharazi will chair the confer ence while OIC secretary general will also address today's opening ceremony.

Earlier, Morshed Khan told BSS that the OIC should proceed with a limited number of targeted, specific time-bound programmes. Too many agenda, he felt, should not impede the focal point of ICFM objectives.

"OIC should not be used merely as a grouping for issuing statements," he said.

"We must proceed with mutual trust among the members and mistrust should not stand in the way of consolidation of the OIC position on vital issues," Morshed said.

There is a long list of draft agenda, which the conference is likely to take up for discussions. The agenda include discussion on the US roadmap for the Middle East and future of Iraq. The conference will also take up for discussion the Kashmir dispute.

The city of Al-Quds Al Sharif, current situation of the peace process in the Middle East, the Palestine problem, situation in Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Somalia and Chechnya are expected to figure prominently in the conference.

Prior to the foreign ministers' conference, the foreign secretaries of the OIC member countries would sit to finalise the draft for the ministers.