H.E. Zehra Zümrüt SELÇUK, Director General of SESRIC, held a bilateral meeting with Mr. Papa Alioune SECK, Chief Statistician of UN Women, on the sidelines of the 68^th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68) in New York.

SESRIC participated in the Coordination Meeting with the designated national focal points of the Ministries responsible for Youth and Sports in OIC member countries, which was organized virtually by the OIC General Secretariat on 13 March 2024.

Within the framework of the Vocational Education and Training Programme for the Member Countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC-VET) and in line with the OIC-TVET Strategic Roadmap 2020-2025, SESRIC organised a Training Course on “Integrating Green Skills and Sustainable Practices into TVET Programmes” on 13-14 March 2024 through an online video conferencing platform.

Within the framework of the OIC Public Employment Services Network (OIC-PESNET) and the SESRIC Public Employment Services Capacity Building Programme (PES-CaB), SESRIC organised a Training Course on “Effective Labour Market Information Systems” on 13-14 March 2024 through an online video conferencing platform.

SESRIC participated in the workshop on “Women Empowerment in Food Security and Beyond”, which was organized and virtually hosted by the Islamic Organization for Food Security (IOFS) on 12 March 2024.

SESRIC participated in the 68^th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) and its side events from 11-15 March 2024 in New York, USA. The main theme of the Session was “Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective”. The Session covered a wide range of crucial topics for the benefit of women and girls including access to finance, empowerment, alleviating poverty, social protection systems, artificial intelligence, good practices and success stories.

A group of 22 students from the Türkiye–Africa Community in Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli (AHBV) University visited SESRIC Headquarters on 7 March 2024. The purpose of the visit was to deepen their knowledge on the OIC and SESRIC.

H.E. Zehra Zümrüt SELÇUK had a productive meeting with H.E. Amb. Cenk URAZ, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Türkiye to the OIC. The meeting, held at SESRIC headquarters, focused on strengthening intra-OIC cooperation.

Within the framework of Environment Capacity Building Programme (Environment-CaB), SESRIC organised a Training Course on “Climate Change Adaptation Planning and Environmental Management” on 5-6 March 2024 through an online video conferencing platform for the benefit of 48 experts and executives from the relevant Ministries and National Institutions in charge of climate change in 24 OIC Countries.

H.E. Zehra Zümrüt SELÇUK held a bilateral meeting with H.E. Louisa VINTON, UNDP Türkiye Resident Representative. The discussions focused on exploring potential collaborations between SESRIC and UNDP Türkiye with a particular focus on addressing socioeconomic challenges and fostering sustainable development within the OIC region.

SESRIC participated in the expert meeting on statistics on children organised by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia on 4–6 March 2024 in Geneva, Switzerland.

SESRIC, serving as the Secretariat of the OIC-Public Employment Services Network (OIC-PESNET), collaborated with the National Agency for the Promotion of Employment and Skills (ANAPEC) of the Kingdom of Morocco, in its capacity as the Chair of the OIC-PESNET, to organise the 4^th Meeting of the OIC-PESNET from 29 February to 1 March 2024 in Marrakech, Kingdom of Morocco. The Meeting brought together 56 participants from the the national Public Employment Services (PES) authorities and other relevant institutions, including the Ministry of Economic Inclusion, Small Business, Employment and Skills (MIEPEEC) of the Kingdom of Morocco, as well as 3 institutions, namely Tamwilcom, SABIL Project, and the Association for the Promotion of Education and Training Abroad (APEFE), representing 20 OIC member countries.

SESRIC, in its capacity as the Secretariat of the OIC Statistical Commission (OIC-StatCom), organised the Follow-up Meeting of the 12^th Session of the OIC-StatCom on 28 February 2024 as a side event of the 55^th Session of the United Nations Statistical Commission in New York, USA. 36 delegates from 17 OIC member countries, as well as the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), CDC Foundation and GCC-STAT, attended the meeting.

SESRIC and Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) of the Republic of Türkiye signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to formalize their longstanding partnership in order to strengthen national statistical systems of the OIC member countries. The ceremony took place at the SESRIC Headquarters in Ankara, Türkiye.

SESRIC and International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group conducted a field visit to Tunisia during 26 February – 1 March 2024. The field visit was conducted as part of the third research project prepared within the framework of a joint research trilogy initiated between the two institutions to assess the impacts of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on African OIC countries.

The SESRIC delegation headed by Dr. Atilla Karaman, Chief of Cabinet and Mr. Onur Cağlar, Director of Statistics and Information Department, participated in the 55^th Session of the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) and its side events on 26 February - 01 March 2024 in New York, USA.

SESRIC attended the Meeting of the Interim Governing Body of the International Forum on TOSSD (IFT), which was held on 20 and 22 February 2024, virtually hosted by OECD from Paris. The meeting brought together members of the Forum to review the transition process into the International Forum on TOSSD (IFT), elaborating on the workplan communications and outreach outcomes, insights and revisions in the recipient profiles and TOSSD statistical standard and methodology among others.

Within the framework of the OIC Occupational Safety and Health Network (OIC-OSHNET) and SESRIC Occupational Safety and Health Capacity Building Programme (OSH-CaB), the Centre, as the OIC Technical Coordinator of OIC-OSHNET, collaborated with the Directorate General of Occupational Safety and Health (DGOSH) at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security of the Republic of Türkiye, as the Secretariat of the Network. Together, they organised a Webinar on “Strategies to Support Mental Health at Work” on 22 February 2024. The webinar was attended by 65 officials from national OSH authorities and related institutions in 18 OIC member countries.

Within the framework of its Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, SESRIC, in collaboration with the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), organised a Training Course on “Tourism Statistics” with the participation of 48 experts from the National Statistical Offices (NSOs) and Ministries of Tourism of 19 countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on 21-22 February 2024 through an online video conferencing platform. The course marked the 500^th Statistical Activity of SESRIC since 2007, highlighting a significant milestone in SESRIC’s commitment to enhancing statistical capacities across the OIC region.

Within the framework of the 11^th Call for Project Proposals of COMCEC Project Funding, the COMCEC Coordination Office (CCO) has completed the evaluation process and announced the Final List of successful projects that will receive COMCEC Project Funding. Three projects prepared and submitted by SESRIC under three different cooperation areas of COMCEC Strategy were found eligible to be funded in the 2024 implementation period, namely: