The Experts Group Meeting on the Establishment of the OIC Development Assistance Committee (OIC-DAC) was organised by SESRIC and held in Ankara, Republic of Turkey, on 22-23 December 2009.

SESRIC has participated in the 10th Islamic Countries Conference on Statistical Sciences (ICCS-X), held in Cairo, Egypt, on 20-23 December 2009. The conference was organized by the Islamic Countries Society of Statistical Sciences (ISOSS) and co-sponsored by the American University in Cairo and the Egyptian Cabinet Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC). The conference brought together researchers and practitioners in statistical sciences from 32 countries all over the world and more than 190 presentations were given by distinguished speakers. Mrs. Zehra Zumrut Selcuk represented the SESRIC thereat.

The Centre organised a training course on “Statistical Data Analysis: Projections and Forecasting” at the Department of Statistics of Malaysia, on December 14-16, 2009. The course was provided by Dr. Ali Said, expert from the BPS-Statistics Indonesia and was attended by 30 staff members of the Department of Statistics of Malaysia.

The Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) organised its Annual Conference on Islamic Banking and Finance, in collaboration with the World Bank, in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain, on 14-15 December 2009. The Conference discussed the most important topics related to the operations of the Financial Islamic Banking such as expanding access to finance to small businesses and households, the way forward for Tawarruq (monetisation) transactions, Sukuk: equity or debt instruments?, investment accounts versus deposit accounts, derivatives: application of mechanisms such as Arboun, Debt Trading and Salam for derivative products including profit rate swap, interbank money market operations, and issues on bankruptcy, liquidation, merger and acquisition.

SESRIC has participated in the 17th Conference of Islamic World Academy of Sciences (IAS) held in Shah Alam / Selangor, Malaysia on 14-17 December 2009 under the patronage of HRH the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah Al-Haj. The Conference was jointly organised by the IAS and the University Industry of Selangor on the theme “Towards the Knowledge Society in the Islamic World: Knowledge Production, Application and Dissemination”. SESRIC presented two papers during the Conference on “The Atlas of Islamic World Innovation” and “R&D and KE Performance of OIC Member Countries”.

The Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Conference (SESRIC) conducted a sideline meeting on December 9, 2009 with the representatives of the Member Countries of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in the International Conference on eGovernment: Sharing Experiences (eGovSharE2009), which was co-organized by the SESRIC, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the eGovernment Centre (eDEM) of the Public Administration Institute for Turkey and Middle East (TODAİE) and the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TİKA) during December 8-11, 2009 in Antalya, Republic of Turkey.

The SESRIC together with the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TİKA), e-Government Centre of the Public Administration Institute for Turkey and the Middle East (TODAİE eDEM) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) co-organised the "International Conference on e-Government: Sharing Experiences" (eGOVsharE2009) which took place on 8-11 December 2009 in Antalya, Turkey.

The Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) organised and hosted a seminar on “Does Technology Transfer Lead to Technological Poverty?" in its headquarters in Ankara on November 24, 2009. The seminar was delivered by Murat Tiryakioğlu.

The Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21) organised its Consortium meeting in Dakar, Senegal on 16-18 November 2009. Dr. Savaş Alpay, Director General of SESRIC, delivered a speech in the session "What works in financial and technical assistance: regional approaches, twinning, south-south" on 17 November 2009.

The Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) organised and hosted a seminar on “The Policy and Implementation Developments within the Context of the Revised Lisbon Strategy” in its headquarters in Ankara on November 11, 2009. The seminar was delivered by Osman Kaya.

Dr. Savaş Alpay, Director General of SESRIC, was awarded with a Plaque of Gratitude by H.E. Abdullah Gül, Chairman of the COMCEC and President of the Republic of Turkey, on 9 November 2009 at the COMCEC Economic Summit.

The Vocational Education and Training Programme for OIC Member Countries (OIC-VET) has been launched officially by H.E. Abdullah Gul, Chairman of the COMCEC and President of the Republic of Turkey, at the COMCEC Economic Summit on 9 November 2009. The launch ceremony, which includes an introductory cinevision show about the OIC-VET Programme, was one of the most spectacular events that took place during the 25th Session of the COMCEC and the COMCEC Economic Summit.

Dr. Savaş Alpay, Director General of SESRIC, participated in the OIC/COMCEC Business Forum that was organized by the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) and the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association (MUSIAD) on 5-6 November 2009 in Istanbul, Turkey, on the sidelines of the 25th Session of the COMCEC.

The 25th Session of the COMCEC convened in Istanbul on 5-7 November 2009 with the participation of delegates from 52 OIC member countries. Bosnia-Herzegovina, Russian Federation, Kingdom of Thailand and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus participated in the Session as observers and Republic of Macedonia as a guest. The OIC General Secretariat, subsidiary, specialized and affiliated organs of the OIC also participated in the Session. A number of international and regional organizations, such as ECO, ECO Bank, FAO, D-8, and the Arab Organisation for Agricultural Development (AOAD) attended the Session.

The 3rd OECD World Forum on "Statistics, Knowledge and Policy" was held on 27 – 30 October 2009 in Busan, Korea. Under the theme of "Charting Progress, Building Visions, Improving Life," it was an opportunity to re-identify what progress means in the 21st century and it contributed to establish comprehensive indicator sets to measure this newly conceptualized "progress" and to share the best practices of evidence-based policy making.

The 3rd Meeting of the OIC Member States’ Stock Exchanges Forum was organised by the Istanbul Stock Exchange and held in Istanbul on 24-25 October 2009. The Meeting was attended by representatives of 21 stock exchanges, 8 central depositories, clearing and registry institutions of the OIC Member Countries and 15 related organisations and institutions, including the SESRIC and IDB.

The Second Session of the 10th Meeting of the OIC Standardization Experts Group (SEG), which was entrusted with the task of development of the OIC Halal Food Standards and Procedures by the 24th Session of COMCEC, held on October 13-16, 2009 in Istanbul, Republic of Turkey. The Turkish Standards Institution (TSE) organized and hosted the Meeting, which was attended by the representatives of 25 Member States of the OIC and the representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina as observer. Furthermore, representatives of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the Coordination Office of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (COMCEC), the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) and Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Center for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) also attended the meeting. The SESRIC was represented in the Meeting by Mr. Mazhar Hussain, researcher at the SESRIC.

The Centre organised a training course on “Web-based Data Compilation Techniques” and “Electronic Forms (Questionnaires)” at the Central Statistical Organisation of the Republic of Yemen, on October 12-14, 2009. The course was provided by Ms. Zeinab Zoheir Hosny, expert from the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) of the Arab Republic of Egypt and was attended by 20 staff members of the Central Statistical Organisation of the Republic of Yemen.

The Centre organised a training course on “Health Statistics” at the Central Statistics Department of the United Arab Emirates, on October 12-14, 2009. The course was provided by Ms. Azhar Adelaal Mokhtar, expert from the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) of the Arab Republic of Egypt and was attended by 20 staff members of the Central Statistics Department of the United Arab Emirates.

The Workshop for the Arab Countries on Tourism Statistics and Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) was held on 12-15 October 2009 in Damascus, Syria. The workshop was co-organized with Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics (AITRS) in collaboration with World Tourism Organization (WTO).