A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on 17 March with the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MFAL) to enhance cooperation among OIC Member Countries (OIC MCs) in the field of food, agriculture and livestock by means of establishing joint programmes and initiatives.

SESRIC organised a Training Course on “Environmental Sensitivity Mapping in Suriname” within the framework of the Environment Capacity Building Programme (Environment-CaB) on 15-17 March 2017 in Paramaribo, Suriname. The training course mainly focused on the following topics:

In accordance with its 2017 Annual Work Plan and within the framework of Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, SESRIC organised the Training Course on ‘Community Outreach through Social Media for National Statistics Offices’ at General Directorate of Statistics and Economic Studies (DGSEE) of Gabonese Republic on 13–14 March 2017.

SESRIC, in its capacity as the Secretariat of the OIC Statistical Commission (OIC-StatCom), organised the annual Meeting with the Delegates of National Statistical Offices of OIC Member Countries on 8 March 2017 in Conference Room A of the UN Conference Building as a side event meeting of the 48th Session of the United Nations Statistical Commission in New York, USA. H.E. Amb. Musa KULAKLIKAYA, Director General, and Dr. Atilla KARAMAN, Researcher at the Statistics and Information Department, represented the Centre at the side event. The meeting was attended by a total of 34 participants (26 representatives from 17 OIC Member Countries including Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cameroon, Egypt, Guyana, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Senegal, and Tunisia together with 6 international and regional agencies including AITRS, GCCStat, IDB, SESRIC, UNESCWA, and UNSD).

Under Thematic Area 5 on Emergency Health Response and Interventions of the Strategic Health Programme of Action (SHPA), SESRIC organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of Turkey a study visit of 5 delegates from the Ministry of Health of Sudan on 6-8 March 2017 in the cities of Ankara and Izmir, Turkey.

Within the capacity building project on “Improving Occupational Health and Safety in Mauritania-Support for Legislation Development” SESRIC received a delegation from the National Occupational Health Office (ONMT) in Mauritania, as part of a study visit to the General Directorate of Occupational Health and Safety (DGOHS) of the Republic of Turkey during the period 06-10 March 2017.

In accordance with its 2017 Annual Work Plan and within the framework of Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, SESRIC organised the Training Course on ‘Labour Cost Statistics’ at BPS-Statistics Indonesia on 6 – 7 March 2017.

SESRIC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Anadolu Agency (AA) to initiate and facilitate cooperation and collaboration between both institutions in matters of common interests.

The Statistical, Economic, Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Cooperation (SESRIC) participated in the Conference on Soundness Indicators for Conventional and Islamic Finance jointly organised by the Arab Monetray Fund (AMF), the International Fund (IMF), and the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) on 1-2 March 2017 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

In accordance with its 2017 Annual Work Plan and within the framework of Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, SESRIC organised the Training Course on ‘Agriculture Statistics’ at National Institute of Statistics, Economic, and Demographic Studies (INSEED) of Republic of Chad on 27 February – 1 March 2017.

SESRIC in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) organised the Workshop on Monitoring Food Security in the Context of 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda on 22-23 February 2017 in Ankara, Republic of Turkey. 40 participants from National Statistical Offices (NSOs) of 19 OIC member countries including Afghanistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Gambia, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mozambique, Pakistan, Palestine, Somalia, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Uganda and 7 international organisations including Economic Cooperation Organization Regional Coordination Centre for Food Security (ECO-RCC-FS), FAO Statistics Division, FAO Sub-regional Office for Central Asia (FAO-SEC), Islamic Organisation for Food Security (IOFS), UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Turkey, World Food Programme (WFP) and SESRIC attended the Workshop.

Knowledge and Experience Sharing Workshop on “Media Literacy " was jointly organised by SESRIC and IBRAF with the attendance of participants from national broadcasting regulatory authorities and governmental bodies on the side-line of the 5 ^th Annual Meeting of OIC Broadcasting Regulatory Forum which was held during 20-23 February 2017.

In accordance with its 2016 Annual Work Plan and within the framework of Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, SESRIC has organised the Training Course on ‘Tourism Satellite Account’ at Suriname Tourism Foundation of Republic of Suriname on 14-16 February 2017.

The Joint Planning Meeting for the Regional Networking Forum and Capacity Development Training for Technical Cooperation Agencies was hosted by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) Istanbul Office on 13-14 February 2017 in Istanbul, Turkey. Together with SESRIC, the meeting was participated by the Astana Regional Hub of Civil Service in Astana (RHCS), Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan (MNE), and the Islamic Development Bank Group (IDB).

The First Session of the Ministerial Conference on Strengthening Marriage and Family Institution and Preserving its Values in OIC Member States was held in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on 8-9 February 2017 under the theme “Towards an OIC Approach to Empower the Marriage and Family Institution and the Preservation of its Values”.

SESRIC hosted the Kick-off Meeting for the SME Development and Empowerment Project under the “BINA INITIATIVE" in collaboration with the Libyan Programme for Reintegration and Development (LPRD) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in Istanbul, Turkey on 6-7 February 2017.

In accordance with its 2017 Annual Work Plan and within the framework of Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, SESRIC organised the Training Course on ‘Agriculture Statistics’ at National Institute of Statistics and Economic Analysis (INSAE) of Republic of Benin on 31 January – 3 February 2017.

SESRIC organised a Theoritical and Practical training course on‘Occupational Safety and Health’ within the framework of Occupational Safety and Health Capacity Building (OSHCaB) Programme of OIC Member Countries in Kampala, Uganda on 30 January–02 February, 2017. The course was provided by 2 experts from Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Republic of Turkey . The target group of this training course were experts from Federation of Uganda Employers , National Organisation of Trade Unions (NOTU), Nakawa Vocational Training Institute, College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology, Makerere University, National Social Security Fund (NSSF).

SESRIC has organised a training course on “Occupational Safety” in Kampala, Uganda on 09-12 January 2017. The training course was provided by the 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 Gender, Labour and Social Development, Republic of Uganda.

In accordance with its 2017 Annual Work Plan and within the framework of Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, SESRIC has organised the Training Course on ‘Gender Statistics’ at the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) on 29-31 January 2017.