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UN SC under Azerbaijan presidency to hold meeting on cooperation with OIC

The meeting will be attended by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu

UNITED NATIONS, October 3 (Itar-Tass) - The UN Security Council under the presidency of Azerbaijan on October 28 will hold the first ever high-level meeting on cooperation between the United Nations and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan to the UN Agshin Mekhdiyev announced on Wednesday.

“The meeting will focus on the strengthening of partnership between the UN and the OIC,” he said, adding that the meeting will be attended by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu. It will be held within the framework of the UN Security Council’s agenda “Cooperation between the United Nations and regional and sub-regional organisations in maintaining international peace and security.”

Agshin Mekhdiyev said that the Security Council “has never held such discussions with the OIC.” According to him, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation is the second largest intergovernmental regional organisation and its zone of responsibility is currently facing many serious challenges.” “We believe that such consultations will be beneficial to all in the search for solutions to these challenges,” said the Azerbaijani ambassador.

The OIC that before June 2011 had the name of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference was founded on September 25, 1969, at the Conference of the Heads of Muslim States in Rabat. The OIC, headquartered in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), currently unites 57 countries with a population of about 1.6 billion. Russia has an observer status in the organisation since 2005.

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