The Twenty-third Session of the COMCEC convened in Istanbul on 14-17 November 2007 with the participation of delegates from 46 OIC member countries and a number of related international and regional organizations. The Ministerial Meeting of the Twenty-third Session of the COMCEC was held on 16-17 November and started, in the opening ceremony, with the inaugural address of H.E. Abdullah GŰL, President of the Republic of Turkey and Chairman of the COMCEC.

Within the framework of the implementation of the Action Plan for the OIC Cotton Producing Countries’ Cooperation Development Strategy (2007-2011), the Forum on Enhancement and Promotion of Trade and Investment in Cotton Sector among OIC Member Countries was organised by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Turkey in collaboration with the OIC General Secretariat and held in Istanbul on 12-13 November 2007.

The First Arab Statistical Conference (FASC) was organized by the Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics (AITRS) in cooperation with the Department of Statistics in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and held in Amman, Jordan between November 12 and November 13, 2007.

The First Forum of Tourism in Islamic Countries has been organized by the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) in cooperation with the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on October 30-November 1, 2007.

The General Secretariat for Development Planning (GSDP) hosted the GCC Labour Market Symposium in Doha on 29 – 31 October 2007. The symposium addressed recent trends and developments in the labor market including the use of new analytical methods to improve the generation of employment indicators and related indices.

The 4^th Meeting of the 2^nd Round the Trade Negotiating Committee (TNC) was held on 10 - 12 September 2007 in Ankara to continue and conclude its deliberations on the Rules of Origin and the Non-tariff Barriers of the OIC Trade Preferential System (TPS-OIC).

At the same venue, the Rules of Origin of the TPS-OIC were presented for signature at the 2^nd Meeting of the Ministers of Commerce of the Member Countries, held on September 12^th.

In accordance with the response of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics to the Centre’s questionnaire on statistical capacity building, the Centre has organised this course at the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. The course has been provided by the experts from the Statistic Division Government of Pakistan.

SESRIC co-organized

The International Conference on Islamic Capital Markets, Regulations, Products and Implementation

together with the IRTI-IDB and the Muamalat Institute, in Jakarta, Indonesia on August 27-29, 2007.

In accordance with the response of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Department of Statistics to the Centre’s questionnaire on statistical capacity building, the Centre has organised this course at the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Department of Statistics. The course has been provided by the experts from the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics of Egypt.

In accordance with the response of the Maldives to the Centre’s questionnaire on statistical capacity building, the Centre has organised this course at the Statistics Division of the Ministry of Planning and National Development of Maldives. The course has been provided by the experts from the Department of Statistics Malaysia.

SESRIC has participated in the

"Asia Pacific Professional Leaders in Education Conference and Exhibition"

held on 11 - 13 July, 2007 in Hong Kong.

A presentation was made on "Academic Rankings of Universities in the OIC Member Countries".

In accordance with the response of the Statistics Indonesia of the Republic of Indonesia to the Centre’s questionnaire on statistical capacity building, the Centre has organised this course at the Statistics Indonesia. The course has been provided by the experts from the Department of Statistics Malaysia.

The 22nd Session of the COMCEC held in Istanbul in November 2006 designated the SESRIC to take full responsibility as the coordinator institution for the exchange of views sessions of the COMCEC. The Session also designated “Micro-Credit Financing and Poverty Alleviation in Member States” as the theme for the Exchange of Views at the 23rd Session of the COMCEC, due to take place in November 2007 in Istanbul. In this connection SESRIC has organized a workshop on the theme “Micro-Credit Financing and Poverty Alleviation in OIC Member States”.

The Centre organised a special meeting with the Heads and representatives of the National Statistical Organisations (NSOs) of the OIC member countries on 28th June 2007 on the sidelines of the Second OECD World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge and Policy, which was held in Istanbul, Turkey on 27-30 June 2007.

SESRTCIC has partnered with OECD, SPO and TURKSTAT in

Second OECD World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge and Policy in Istanbul, Turkey 27-30 June 2007

Brochure about the Istanbul World Forum

The Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan, current Chairman of the Islamic Conference of Tourism Ministers, has organized an International Conference on the Role of Tourism in the Economies of OIC Countries on 21-22 June 2007 in Baku.

The Conference beared scientific and research character and has been devoted to exchanges of views and opinions on how tourism influences economy and its spheres, as well as which concrete strategies should be applied to manage the sphere in an extremely successful way.

The Third Meeting of the Second Round of Trade Negotiations was held in Ankara on 19-22 June 2007 with the participation of delegates from 18 countries of the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC), 8 OIC member countries attended the meeting as observers and representatives of the OIC General Secretariat, COMCEC Coordination Office, ICDT, IDB and SESRTCIC.

First Islamic Conference of Health Ministers was held on 12 - 15 June 2007 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, under the patronage of Dato’ Seri Abdullah Hj Ahmad Badawi, the Honourable Prime Minister of Malaysia and the Chairman of the 10th Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Conference.

In accordance with the response of the Statistics Directorate of Morocco to the Centre’s questionnaire on statistical capacity building, the Centre organised this course at the Statistics Directorate of Morocco. The course has been provided by an expert from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

The 23rd Meeting of the Follow-up Committee of the COMCEC was held on 29-31 May 2007 in Ankara, Turkey with the participation of 11 member countries of the Committee and Azerbaijan as observer.

The OIC General Secretariat and the following subsidiary, affiliated and specialised organs (SESRTCIC, ICDT, IDB, and ICCI) attended the Meeting. The representative of the UNIDO Regional Office in Ankara also attended the Meeting. Mr. Nabil Dabour and Mr. Suleyman İslamoğlu represented the Centre at the Meeting.