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 5 March 2015 between 14:30 and 17:00 in Conference Room C of the UN Conference Building as a side event meeting of the 46th Session of the United Nations Statistical Commission in New York, USA. Delegates from the National Statistics Offices of OIC member countries attended the meeting.

The Forty-Sixth Session of the UN Statistical Commission (UNSC) was held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, USA on 03-06 March 2015. The Session, which marks the 68th anniversary of the Commission, was attended by representatives of national and international agencies. Prof. Savas Alpay, Director General, and Dr. Atilla Karaman, Senior Researcher, represented the Centre thereat.

The Centre organised a training programme on “Waste and Harmful Substances: Medical Wastes” within the framework of the Environment Capacity Building (Environment-CaB) Programme, on 2-4 March 2015 in Banjul, Gambia. The course was provided by Mr. Erdoğan Karaca, expert of environment and urbanization in the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization of Republic of Turkey.

In the context of the follow-up of the implementation of the “Executive Programme of the Road-Map for Achieving Intra-OIC Trade Targets” adopted by the OIC Consultative Group on Enhancing Intra-OIC Trade, the Islamic Centre for Development of Trade (ICDT) and the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), member of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group, organised the 7th Meeting of the OIC Consultative Group on Enhancing Intra-OIC Trade in Casablanca on 2-3 March 2015.

The Twenty Fifth Session of the Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities (CCSA), a forum with 45 members that promotes inter-agency coordination and cooperation on statistical programmes and consistency in statistical practices and development, was held at United Nations Headquarters in New York, USA on 2 March 2015. Delegates from international and supranational organizations participated in the Twenty Fifth Session of the CCSA. The Centre was represented by Prof. Savas Alpay, Director General, thereat.

In accordance with its 2015 Annual Work Plan and within the framework of the Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, SESRIC organised the training course on 'Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Statistics' at the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) in Khartoum, Republic of Sudan on 02-04 March 2015. The course was conducted by Mr. Bassam Daoud Mostafa Zain, Statistician at the Department of Statistics of Jordan, with the participation of 40 officials of the CBS of Sudan.

The Fifth Meeting of the Poverty Alleviation Working Group organized by the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC) was held on 26 February 2015 in Ankara, Turkey.

The Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on the Indicator Framework for the Post-2015 Development Agenda, organized by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), was held on 25-26 February 2015 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, back-to-back with the 46th Session of the United Nations Statistical Commission. The representatives from national statistical systems, supranational, international and regional organizations with expertise in development indicators and monitoring attended and contributed to the EGM. Prof. Savas Alpay, Director General, and Dr. Atilla Karaman, Senior Researcher, represented the SESRIC thereat.

The Ninth Meeting of the OIC Steering Committee on Health (SCH) was held on 25–26 February 2015 in Istanbul, Turkey. The meeting was attended by the members of the Steering Committee, inter alia, discussed preparations of the 5th Islamic Conference of Ministers of Health (ICHM) scheduled to be held in Turkey on 17-19 November 2015 and reviewed the status of implementation of the OIC Strategic Health Programme of Action 2014-2023. The SCH Meeting was preceded by Lead Country Coordinators Meeting on 23-24 February 2015 at the same venue.

The Centre, in collaboration with the Post and Telegraph Organization (PTT) of Turkey, organised a training course at the Posta Uganda on ‘Parcel, Logistics Services and Express’ on 24-25 February 2015. The course was provided by two competent experts, namely, Mrs. Candan Şenyüz, Acting Deputy Head of International Relations Department and Mr. Hürriyet Doğan Yantiri, Expert of Post and Cargo Services Department in PTT.

In accordance with its 2015 Annual Work Plan and within the framework of the Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, SESRIC organised the training course on 'Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Statistics' at the Central Statistics Organization (CSO) in Kabul, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on 23-25 February 2015. The course was conducted by Mr. Vedat Mert, Expert at the Turkish Statistics Institute (TURKSTAT), with the participation of 29 officials of the CSO, Afghan Ministry of Agriculture, Afghan Academy of Science, and Faculty of Agriculture.

In accordance with its 2015 Annual Work Plan, SESRIC organised the training course on 'Professional Skills for Official Statisticians: Time Management' at the State Committee of Statistics (Goskomstat) in Tashkent, Republic of Uzbekistan on 16-18 February 2015, within the framework of the Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme. The course was conducted by Mr. Sanan Hasanov, Expert at Business Management Group International (BMGI), with participation of relevant officials of Goskomstat.

The Centre has organised a training course on ‘Postal Financial Services’ within the framework of the OIC Postal Service Capacity Building (OIC PS-CaB) Programme on 17-19 February 2015 at the Office of Djibouti Post in collaboration with the Office of Tunisian Post Company. Mr. Moez Jebali, who is in charge of the Electronic Payments Department at the Tunisian Post Company, provided this three day training course covering below topics:

The Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) and Committee on Statistics (CS) of the Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan have signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to facilitate collaboration and cooperation between both institutions within the framework of the project titled “Integration of the ‘Tobacco Questions for Surveys (TQS)’ into the National Surveys in Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Member States”. The MoA was signed on 13 February 2015 by Prof. Savaş Alpay, Director General of SESRIC, and Mr. Alikhan Smailov, Chairman of CS of the Ministry of National Economy of Kazakhstan.

SESRIC has participated in the 5th meeting of the COMCEC Transportation and Communications Working Group that took place in Ankara on February 12, 2015. The theme of meeting was:” Evaluating the Ownership, Governance Structures, and Performances of Ports in the OIC Member States.” In addition to SESRIC, the meeting was attended by representatives of 11 Member States which were: Afghanistan, Gambia, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Malaysia, Morocco, Mozambique, Saudi Arabia, Suriname and Turkey. Also Representatives of COMCEC Coordination Office, Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Organization of Islamic Shipowners’ Association (OISA), UNCTAD, Khalid Bichou & Associates Ltd., Drewry Shipping Consultants, and Hogia Transport Systems also attended the meeting. The Transportation and Communications working group held deliberations on the latest global and regional trends in port sector, the current state of institutional and governance structure of the ports in OIC member states, and the efficiency of the ports in the member states.

The Islamic University in Uganda (IUIU), an affiliated institution of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), has officially inaugurated the Habib Medical School on 10 February 2015. The Habib Medical School was inaugurated by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Asuman Kiyingi, on behalf of the President of Uganda, and OIC Assistant Secretary General, Ambassador Muhammed Naeem Khan, on behalf of the Secretary General.

The Fifth Meeting of the COMCEC Tourism Working Group was held on February 5th, 2015 in Ankara, Turkey with the theme “Travel Facilitation for Enhancing Mobility in the OIC Member States”. The Meeting was attended by the representatives of 10 OIC Member States including Gambia, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Mozambique, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sudan and Turkey. Representatives from the COMCEC Coordination Office, ICDT, WTTC (World Travel and Tourism Council), IATA, Tourism Economics, and Turkish Airlines have also attended the Meeting. The Centre was represented thereat by Dr. Cem Tintin, Researcher and Mr. Abdulhamit Ozturk, Researcher.

In accordance with its 2015 Annual Work Plan and within the framework of the Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, SESRIC organised the training course on 'Geographic Information Systems' at the National Institute of Statistics and Demography (INSD) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on 3-5 February 2015. The course was conducted by Ms. Marie-Antoinette Ouattara, Chief of Cartography Division at the National Institute of Statistics (INS) of Cote d’Ivoire, with the participation of 17 officials of the INSD.

The Third Meeting of the OIC/COMCEC Private Sector Tourism Forum was held on 29-30 January 2015 in Istanbul, Turkey with a theme “International Branding of Tourism Destinations in the OIC Member Countries. The Meeting was attended by the representatives of 16 OIC Member States. The Centre was represented thereat by Dr. Cem Tintin, Researcher. Representatives from the COMCEC Coordination Office, ICDT, ICD (IDB Group), Tourism Development International and TURSAB also attended the Meeting.

In accordance with its 2015 Annual Work Plan and within the framework of the Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, SESRIC organised the training course on 'Education Statistics' at the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Analysis (INSAE) in Cotonou, Republic of Benin on 27-29 January 2015. The course was conducted by Mr. Adjibou Oppa Barry, Statistician at the National Agency of Statistics and Demography (ANSD) of Senegal, with the participation of 23 officials of the INSAE.