SESRIC organized a sideline meeting on February 26, 2009 with the delegates of the National Statistical Offices (NSOs) of the Member Countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) during the 40th Session of the UN Statistical Commission in New York, USA.

The 40th Session of the United Nations Statistical Commission was held on February 24-27, 2009 in New York. The representatives of National Statistical Organizations (NSOs) of 36 OIC Member States, observer countries and international organizations participated in the Session. SESRIC was also represented at the meeting.

SESRIC has participated in the official visit to the Republic of Iraq headed by Professor Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, the Secretary General of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) on 21 - 25 February 2009. The delegation was comprised of high-level officials from the OIC General Secretariat, the Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC), the Islamic Bank for Development (IDB), the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), the Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA), the Islamic Fiqh Academy (IFA), and the Islamic Centre for Development of Trade (ICDT).

Dr. Savaş Alpay, Director General of SESRIC, received a delegation from the World Health Organisation (WHO) in his Office on Wednesday 18 February 2009. The delegation comprised of Dr. Armando Peruga, Coordinator of the Tobacco Free Initiative of the WHO, Dr. Toker Ergüder, National Tobacco Control Programme Officer (Bloomberg Initiative) of the WHO Regional Office in Ankara, and Dr. Nazmi Bilir, Head of Department of Public Health at Hacettepe University, Turkey.

Within the framework of the implementation of the OIC Ten Year Programme of Action, which has been adopted by the 3rd Extraordinary Islamic Summit in December 2005, particularly in the context of the implementation of the “Road Map for Enhancing Intra-OIC Trade”, which has been adopted by the Expert Group Meeting on “enhancing intra-OIC trade” held in Ankara in July 2008, the Islamic Centre for Development of Trade (ICDT) organised the Consultative Meeting of the OIC Institutions on Enhancing Intra-OIC Trade.

The meeting of the Steering Committee of the Regional Project on Sustainable Tourism Development in a Network of Cross-Border Parks and Protected Areas in West Africa was held on 6 February 2009 in Madrid, Spain, at the invitation of the Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). The representatives of UNWTO, the research firm Secheresse Consultants, the countries included in the project and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), participated in the meeting. The OIC have been represented by its General Secretariat, the Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) and the Islamic Centre for Development of Trade (ICDT).

The Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) organized and hosted a seminar on “Global Financial Crisis in the Context of the OIC Member States” in its headquarters in Ankara on January 29, 2009. The seminar was delivered by Dr. İbrahim Turhan, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey.

Following the Kuala Lumpur Declaration 2007 of the First Islamic Conference of Health Ministers of the OIC and Resolution No.4/11-ST (IS) of the Eleventh Session of the Islamic Summit Conference, the Government of Malaysia hosted the First Meeting of the Steering Committee of the Islamic Conference of Health Ministers in Kuala Lumpur on 19-20 January 2009.