Dr. Savaş Alpay, Director General of SESRIC, and Mr. Atilla Karaman, Researcher, visited the General Directorate of Secondary Education at the Ministry of National Education (MoNE) of the Republic of Indonesia in Jakarta on 16 September 2011. Mr. Mustaghfirin Amin, Secretary at the Directorate General for Secondary Education, and Mr. Yoni Utomo, Senior Staff at the Directorate of Technical and Vocational Education received the SESRIC delegation at the MoNE Headquarters.

COMCEC Capital Markets Regulatory Authorities Conference and Roundtable was held on 16 September 2011 in Istanbul, Turkey. The meeting was hosted jointly by the Capital Markets Board of Turkey (CMBT) and the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE). Representatives from 13 regulatory authorities of the OIC member states and 4 related institutions, including SESRIC, attended the meeting. The Centre was represented at the Conference and Roundtable by Mr. Nadi Serhan Aydın, Researcher at the Centre.

Dr. Savaş Alpay, Director General of SESRIC, and Mr. Atilla Karaman, Researcher, visited the BPS-Statistics Indonesia’s Cimahi District and West Java Provincial Offices in Bandung on 15 September 2011.

Dr. Savaş Alpay, Director General of SESRIC, and Mr. Atilla Karaman, Researcher, visited Mr. Muchlis Husin, Acting Director of the Institute of Statistics (STIS), in Jakarta, Indonesia on 14 September 2011. Ms. Dewita Nasution, Vice Director for Student Affairs; Dr. Dedi Walujadi, Vice Director for Administration Affairs; Mr. Rifa Rufiadi, Head of General Administration Division; Mr. Sairi Hasbullah, Director of Public Relations and Legal Affairs Department at the BPS-Statistics Indonesia; Ms. Tias Tanjung Wilis, International Relations and Cooperation Division at the BPS-Statistics Indonesia were also present during the meeting.

SESRIC will organize the OIC-OSHNET Follow-up Meeting on the sidelines of the XIX World Congress on Safety and Health at Work. The objectives of the meeting is to evaluate the progress from the OIC-OSHNET Kick-off Meeting to the World Congress, to discuss the implementation mechanism of the Network and to explore further ways and means of collaboration among OIC Member Countries in the field of occupational safety and health. Furthermore, the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the OIC-OSHNET will be discussed and approved during the meeting. Participants are expected to review “The Draft Terms of Reference” on the website before the meeting in order to be able to have a fruitful discussion.

BPS-Statistics Indonesia hosted a preparatory meeting to exchange views on the development of a draft outline for the Strategic Vision of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Statistical Commission (OIC-StatCom). The participants of BPS-Statistics Indonesia were Mr. Arizal Ahnaf, Principal Inspector; Mr. Sairi Hasbullah, Director of Public Relations and Legal Affairs Department; Dr. Kecuk Suhariyanto, Director of Statistical Analysis and Development Department; Ms. Katiti Wulansari, Director of International Relations and Cooperation Division; and Ms. Tias Tanjung Wilis, International Relations and Cooperation Division. Dr. Savas Alpay, Director General, and Mr. Atilla Karaman, Researcher, represented the Centre thereat.

SRIC organized a symposium on “International Partnership in OSH Training” in collaboration with the Turkish Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (ISGUM) during the XIX World Congress on Safety and Health at Work.

The IMF Outreach Seminar on the Fund’s Data Standards Initiatives and Proposals was co-hosted by the BPS-Statistics Indonesia, Bank Indonesia, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia and the International Monetary Fund Statistics Department on 12-14 September 2011 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Delegates from three OIC Member Countries including Indonesia, Kazakhstan, and Malaysia, together with China, Hong Kong SAR, India, Japan, Korea, Philippines, South Africa, and Thailand participated in the seminar. Dr. Savas Alpay, Director General, and Mr. Atilla Karaman, Researcher, represented the Centre thereat.

The XIX World Congress on Safety and Health at Work, jointly organized by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security of Turkey, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Social Security Association (ISSA), was hold from 11-15 September 2011 in Istanbul, Republic of Turkey.

First OIC Labour Ministers Meeting was held on 10 September 2011, on the sidelines of the XIX World Congress on Safety and Health at Work, which took place in Istanbul, Turkey, on 11-15 September 2011.

The Centre organised a training course on “Statistical Data Analysis” at the National Institute of Statistics and Demography Burkina Faso on 01-03 August 2011. The Course was provided by Mr. Guindo Sidiki, an expert at the Senegal National Agency of Statistics and Demography.

The Centre organised a training course on “MDGs Related Statistics” at Statistics Sierra Leone on 27-30 July 2011. The Course was provided by Ms. Lydia Tuhaise, a Senior Statician at the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), and was attended by 28 staff members of the Statistics Sierra Leone.

The Centre organised a training course on “Statistical Data Analysis” at the Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Statistics on 18-21 July 2011. The Course was provided by Ms. Afsaneh Yazdani, Director General of Office of Statistical Methodology & Sample Surveys at the Statistical Centre of Iran, and was attended by 14 staff members of the Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Statistics.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) and Center for Innovation and Technology Cooperation of the I.R. Iran Presidency (CITC) on 18 July 2011 in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) and Islamic Chamber Research and Information Centre (ICRIC) on 16 July 2011 in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran.

The Third Meeting of the Monitoring and Advisory Committee (MAC) of the Vocational Education and Training Programme for OIC Member Countries (OIC-VET) was held in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. The meeting hosted by Iran Technical and Vocational Training Organization (TVTO) and was attended by the delegations of the National Focal Points (NFPs) of the OIC Member States, namely Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Iran, Iraq, Maldives, Pakistan, Senegal, Togo, Tunisia and Turkey. The Representatives of the concerned OIC institutions, namely COMCEC, IDB, IUT and SESRIC, were also present in the meeting.

The First Meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation E-Government Working Group (OIC eGovWG) - organised by the Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) - was held on 5–6 July 2011 in Ankara, Republic of Turkey. Delegates from six OIC Member Countries including Iran, Lebanon, Malaysia, Syria, Turkey and Uzbekistan and observers from academia and public sector participated in the Meeting. Eng. Hüseyin Hakan Eryetli, Director of IT and Publications Department; Mr. Atilla Karaman, Researcher; Ms. Hatice İlbay Söylemez, Researcher; Ms. Hatice Melek Ateş Taşcı, Researcher; and Mr. Abu Naser Huda, IT Expert, represented the Centre thereat.

Under the patronage of H.E. Dr. Marouf Suleiman al-Bakhit, Prime Minister of Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Fifth Forum on Statistical Capacity Building for Arab Countries with the theme “Statistics, Media and Policy Making” was held on 4-5 July 2011 in Amman, Jordan. The delegates of National Statistical Offices (NSO) from 13 Arab Countries including Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Somalia, Sudan and Tunisia, and the representatives of the Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics (AITRS), Arab League, EUROSTAT, European Central Bank, International Cooperation Agency for the French Ministries of Economy and Finance (ADETEF), PARIS21, Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC), Statistics Netherlands, Statistics Norway, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UNESCWA), and World Bank participated in the Forum. Ms. Münevver Nilgün Egemen, Senior Researcher at the Statistics and Information Department, represented the Centre thereat.

The Centre organised a training Course on “Price Statistics” at Jordan Department of Statistics on 3-5 July 2011. The Course was provided by Mr. Ashraf Samarah, an expert from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, and was attended by 14 staff members from Department of Statistics in Jordan.

A Declaration of Intention for cooperation between the SESRIC and the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training (MEVT) of the Kingdom of Morocco has been signed during the closing ceremony of Vocational Training Meda2 Project and launching of the study on elaboration on the National Strategy for the Development of Vocational Training by 2020, which has been held on 28th June 2011 in Rabat, Kingdom of Morocco.