H.E. Ambassador Musa Kulaklıkaya, Director General of the Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) and Mrs. Ola Awad-Shakhshir, President of Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 20 April 2016 in Ramallah, State of Palestine.

The Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) and National Institute of Statistics (INS) of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) .

In accordance with its 2016 Annual Work Plan and within the framework of Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, SESRIC organised the Training Course on ‘Labour Statistics’ at National Center for Statistics and Information (NCSI) of Sultanate of Oman on 18-20 April, 2016.

The Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (Turkic Council) on 18 April 2016 in Istanbul. H.E. Ambassador Musa Kulaklıkaya, Director General of SESRIC and H.E. Ambassador Ramil Hasanov, Secretary General of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States signed the MoU.

The Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC), organised a training course on “Occupational Hygiene” in collaboration with the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) on 18-20 April 2016 in Lahore, Pakistan. The training course was provided by Department of Occupational Safety and Health, NIOSH with the attendance of participants from the Saeed Ahmed Awan Centre for the Improvement of Working Conditions & Environment, Pakistan.

The Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC), organised, in collaboration with the Turkish Competition Authority, a training course on "Competition Law and Policy" within the framework of the OIC Capacity Building Programme for Competition Authorities (OIC-CA-CaB) on 18-20 April 2016 in Yaounde, Cameroon. 

In line with the decision of the 5^th Islamic Conference of Health Ministers held in Istanbul on 17-19 November 2015, the Government of the Republic of Turkey has organised in coordination with OIC General Secretariat a special session on First Ladies’ Leadership on Cancer Control on the margins of the 13^th Islamic Summit Conference on 14 April 2016 in Istanbul.

H.E. Ambassador Musa Kulaklıkaya, Director General of the Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) moderated the session on “Economic and Commercial Cooperation among OIC Member Countries: Problems and Solutions” a side-line event of the 13^th OIC Islamic Summit Conference on 13 April 2016, organised by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey and the Centre for Strategic Research (SAM).

The Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) has signed several Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with different partners during the 13^th OIC Islamic Summit, which was held between 10-15 April in Istanbul.

The 13^th Session of the Islamic Summit Conference was held on 10-15 April 2016 in Istanbul. With the theme "Unity and Solidarity for Justice and Peace", the Summit stressed out the importance of unity and solidarity of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member countries in solving the challenges faced by the Islamic world.

The 13^th Session of the Islamic Summit Conference took place in Istanbul, Turkey on 10-15 April 2016. The Senior Official Meeting Preparatory for the Summit took place on 10-11 April 2016. This meeting reviewed and considered the outcome documents of the Summit and the draft agenda and programme of the preparatory meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers, which was held on 12-13 April 2016. The 13^th Session of the Islamic Summit Conference was held at the level of the Heads of the States on 14-15 April 2016 under the overall theme “Unity and Solidarity for Justice and Peace”. The agenda of the summit included, among other issues, the question of Palestine and Arab-Israeli conflict, conflict situation in the Muslim world, combating terrorism and violent extremism, Islamophopia, humanitarian situation in the Muslim world, and the OIC-2025 Programme of Action. The summit adopted a final communique and Istanbul Declaration.

The 18^th Intensive Care Congress was held on 06-10 April 2016 in Antalya. The congress, considered as one of the most important events on intensive care, included 43 panels, conferences, round table discussions, interactive exchanges with relevant experts, industry-supported satellite meetings and joint sessions with major associations.

SESRIC organised a training course on “Occupational Hygiene” in Manama, Bahrain on 5-7 April 2016. The training course was provided by Mr. Muhammed Raşit Aydos and Mrs. Doğa Martı, OSH experts at the General Directorate of Occupational Health and Safety (DGOHS) under the Ministry of Labour and Social Security of the Republic of Turkey with the attendance of participants from the Occupational Safety Department of the Ministry of Labour and Social Development, Kingdom of Bahrain.

The Arab Conference on a Transformative Agenda for Official Statistics was organised and hosted by SESRIC in collaboration and partnership with the United Nations Economic Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Statistical Centre for the Cooperation Council for the Arab Countries of the Gulf (GCC-STAT), and Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics (AITRS) at SESRIC Headquarters in Ankara, Turkey on 5-7 April 2016.

Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) participated in the conference on ”The Future of Islamic Banking and Economics in Search of New Normal” on 4-5 April 2016 at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, Turkey, which was organised by the Central Bank of Republic of Turkey (CBRT). 

The Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) organised a training course on “Occupational Safety and Health in Construction Sector and Fundamentals of Industrial Hygiene” on 04-06 April 2016 in Muscat, Oman. The training course was provided by Mr. Hamza Altınsoy and Mr. Hüseyin Suat Burçak, OSH experts at the General Directorate of Occupational Health and Safety (DGOHS) under the Ministry of Labour and Social Security of the Republic of Turkey with the attendance of participants from the Ministry of Health, Sultanate of Oman.

The Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) organised a workshop on “Knowledge Sharing Workshop on Social Security Systems” in Ankara on 4-6 April 2016, in collaboration with the Social Security Institution of the Republic of Turkey.

The Third Meeting of the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators (IAEG-SDGs), was held in Mexico City, Mexico from 30 March to 1 April 2016.

The Statistical, Economic, Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Cooperation (SESRIC) participated in the OIC Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC) Project Funding Training Programme 2016 in Ankara, Turkey on 29-30 March 2016. The Centre was represented by Ms. Nenden Octavarulia Shanty, Researcher at Statistics and Information Department. The training was attended by the delegates from Gambia, Malaysia, Palestine, Turkey, and Uganda. Representatives of Development Bank of Turkey and Department of International Programs and Projects of Ministry of Development of Turkey also participated in the meeting.

The Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) organised a training course on “Mitigating the Devastating Effect of Lepidopteran through Molecular and Conventional Breeding Approaches” within the framework of the OIC Cotton Training Programme (OIC-CTP), for Cotton experts from OIC Cotton Producing Countries in Ankara on 29-31 March 2016. The course was conducted by experts from the University of the Punjab, Pakistan.