The Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) participated in the "6th European Conference on Tobacco or Health (ECToH)", which was organised by the "Turkish Association for Cancer Research and Control (TACRC)" in collaboration with "National Coalition on Tobacco or Health (SSUK)" under the auspices of the Association of European Cancer Leagues (ECL) on 26-29 March 2014, at The Marmara Hotel in Istanbul, Republic of Turkey.

In accordance with the Resolutions of the Third Session of the OIC Statistical Commission (OIC-StatCom), the Members of the OIC-StatCom called for an Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on Islamic Banking and Finance Statistics (IBFStat). The EGM on IBFStat was co-organized by Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) and the Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI) of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group on 25 – 26 March 2014 at the SESRIC Headquarters in Ankara, Turkey. The meeting was attended by delegates from 13 member countries, namely Bangladesh, Cameroon, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Turkey and Yemen. Representatives of Borsa Istanbul (Istanbul Stock Exchange), International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF) and Participation Banks Association of Turkey (TKBB) also participated in the meeting.

The Eight Meeting of the OIC Steering Committee on Health was hosted by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia on 25–26 March 2014 in Jakarta. The meeting, inter alia, discussed the status of implementation of the decisions and resolutions adopted by the Fourth Islamic Conference of Health Ministers, as well as the implementation of OIC Strategic Health Programme of Action 2014-2023, promoting self-reliance in production of medicines and vaccines, health programmes for Hajj and Umrah pilgrims and establishment of the OIC Health Implementation Unit.

The First Meeting of the Lead Country Coordinators was hosted by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia in Jakarta on 24-25 March 2014. The meeting was attended by the represeantatives of the relevant Lead Country Coordinators, namely, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Oman, Sudan and Turkey responsbile for the six Thematic Areas areas identified in the OIC Strategic Health Programme of Action 2014-2023 (OIC-SHPA), which was adopted by the 4th Session of the Islamic Conference of Ministers of Health held in Jakarta on 22-24 October 2013, as well as relevant OIC institutions, namely SESRIC, IDB and COMSTECH.

In accordance with its 2014 Annual Work Plan, SESRIC organised the Training Course on 'Construction Statistics' at the Central Statistical Organization (CSO) in Sana’a, Republic of Yemen on 24-26 March 2014 within the framework of the Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme. The course was provided by Mr. Bünyamin Emirosman, Head of Short Term Business Statistics at Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT) with participation of relevant officials of Central Statistical Organization (CSO) of Yemen.

Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) organised a training programme on “Balance of Payments Statistics” at the Central Bank of Yemen Republic on 24-25 March 2014, within the framework of OIC Central Banks Capacity Building Programme (CB-CaB). The seminar was provided by Mr. Serdar Erkılıç, Deputy Director, Statistics Department, Balance of Payments Division of Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey with participation of relevant members of Central Bank of the Republic of Yemen.

Dr. Abubaker Ahmed Bagader, Director General of Cultural, Social and Family Affairs of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), visited SESRIC on 22 March 2014, together with a delegation comprising Mr. Hasan Basri Arslan, Professional Officer, and Mr. Abdula Manafi Mutualo, Cultural and Social Affairs Officer at the OIC.

In accordance with its 2014 Annual Work Plan, SESRIC organised the training course on 'Balance of Payments and International Trade Statistics' on 18-20 March 2014 at the premises of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) in Dhaka, Bangladesh within the framework of the Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme. The course was provided by Mr. Eyüp Mehmet Dinç, an expert of Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT), and attended by 21 relevant officials of the BBS.

The Third Meeting of the COMCEC Transport Working Group was held on March 13th, 2014 in Ankara, Turkey with the theme “Developing Multimodal Freight Transport (MFT) Among OIC Member Countries”. The Meeting was attended by the representatives of 15 OIC Member States including Afghanistan, Djibouti, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Morocco, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Senegal, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Uganda. The Centre was represented thereat by Dr. Cem Tintin, Researcher. Representatives from the COMCEC Coordination Office, IDB (Islamic Development Bank), UIRR (International Union for Road-Rail Combined Transport), UTIKAD (Association of International Forwarding and Logistics Service Providers) and KombiConsult also attended the Meeting.

In accordance with its 2014 Annual Work Plan, SESRIC organised the training course on 'Price Statistics' at the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on 10-12 March 2014. The training was attended by 11 experts from the NBS of UAE, Statistics Centre of Abu Dhabi (SCAD), Dubai Statistics Centre (DSC), and Central Department of Statistics and Information (CDSI) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Dr. Cem Bas, an expert of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), was the trainer for the training programme.

In accordance with its 2014 Annual Work Plan, SESRIC organised the Training Course on 'Classifications' at the Central Statistical Organization (CSO) in Baghdad, Republic of Iraq on 10-11 March 2014 within the framework of the Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme. The course was provided by Mrs. Asmaa Abdelrasoul Mohamed Mourad, senior specialist at Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) of Arab Republic of Egypt with participation of relevant officials of CSO of Iraq.

SESRIC, in its capacity as the Secretariat of the OIC Statistical Commission (OIC-StatCom), organized the annual Meeting with the Delegates of National Statistical Offices of OIC Member Countries on 6 March 2014 between 14:00 and 16:00 in Conference Room A of the UN Conference Building as a side event meeting of the 45th Session of the United Nations Statistical Commission in New York. 37 delegates from member countries attended the meeting. Additionally, UNSD and GCC-Stat were represented thereat.

The Third Meeting of the COMCEC Tourism Working Group was held on March 4th, 2014 in Ankara, Turkey with the theme "Enabling Tourism Investment Climate in the COMCEC Region". The Meeting was attended by the representatives of 14 OIC Member States including Oman, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Tunisia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Indonesia, Kyrgyz Republic, Libya, Malaysia, and Mozambique. The Centre was represented thereat by Dr. Cem Tintin, Researcher. Representatives from the COMCEC Coordination Office, ICDT, IFC (World Bank Group), TUROB, SW Associates also attended the Meeting.

Borsa İstanbul organized the first conference on Islamic finance in Istanbul on March 3rd and 4th, 2014. The event is organized with the collaboration of World Bank, Islamic Development Bank, INCEIF-The Global University of Islamic Finance, IDB Islamic Research and Training Institute, Kuwait Finance House, Durham University and Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey. The main subject of the conference was “Implications of Participation Model in Finance”. The conference aimed to provide a platform, to stimulate debate and research to discuss the current pressing issues and the future of the Islamic Economics and Finance. The conference brought together academicians and practitioners in an international setting. From SESRIC, Dr. Kenan Bağcı and Mr. Nadi Serhan Aydin, senior researchers at the centre, attended the conference.

The twenty third session of the Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities (CCSA) was held at United Nations Headquarters in New York, USA on 3 March 2014. 41 delegates from international and supranational organizations participated in the Twenty Third Session of the CCSA. The Centre was represented by Prof. Savas Alpay, Director General and Mrs. Zehra Zumrut Selcuk, Senior Researcher.

Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) organised a training programme on “Risk Management in Islamic Financial Institutions” at the Central Bank of Iraq on 3-5 March 2014, within the framework of OIC Central Banks Capacity Building Programme (OIC-CB-CaB). The Course was provided by Mr. Abdul Samad, Member Shairah Compliance Department, AlHuda CIBE, with participation of relevant experts of Central Bank of Iraq.

The Third Meeting of the COMCEC Trade Working Group was held on February 27th, 2014 in Ankara, Turkey with the theme "Facilitating Intra-OIC Trade: Improving the Efficiency of Customs Procedures". The Meeting was attended by the representatives of 21 OIC Member States including Bangladesh, Cameroon, Comoros, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Libya, Malaysia, Mali, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, Turkey and Yemen. The Centre was represented thereat by Dr. Kenan Bağcı, Senior Researcher. Representatives of the COMCEC Coordination Office, ITFC/IDB, ICDT, SMIIC, UNCTAD, World Customs Organization (WCO) and Gümrük ve Ticaret İşletmeleri (GTI) of Turkey also attended the Meeting.

In accordance with its 2014 Annual Work Plan, SESRIC organised the training course on 'Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Statistics' on 25-27 February 2014 at the premises of the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics in Doha, Qatar within the framework of the Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme. The course was provided by Mr. Salim Gürbüz, an expert of Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT), and attended by 17 relevant officials of the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics of Qatar.

Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) in collaboration with the Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs of the Republic of Turkey and the Turkish Water Institute (SUEN), organised the International Integrated Basin Management Workshop on 25-26 February 2014 in Istanbul, Turkey.

H.E. Dato Haji Ismail bin Haji Abdulmuttalib, Deputy Minister of Human Resources of Malaysia, visited SESRIC Headquarters on 17 February 2014, together with a delegation from the Ministry of Human Resources of Malaysia, and accompanied by H.E. Mr. Amran Mohamed Zin, Ambassador of Malaysia to Turkey. Also present were Mr. Kasım Özer, the Director General of General Directorate of Occupational Health and Safety of Turkey, together with managers and experts from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security of Turkey.