On the other hand, there is no noticeable progress in Armenia’s response to implement the Security Council decisions regarding the withdrawal of its troops from the territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the area of Nagorno-Karabakh.

As for Chechnya, the Muslim people of that country are still suffering greatly from the years-long harsh coercive emergency measures imposed on it, the difficult conditions resulting from marginalization, as well as obvious human right violations. It is high time for a dialogue with the true representatives of the people of Chechnya in a bid to reach such a resolution as would alleviate those people’s suffering and lead to the recognition of their specificities and identity.

Meanwhile, amid those crises and problems afflicting the Islamic Ummah, causing us to inevitably react with sympathy and compassion towards their victims, there is a good augury and room for optimism as we see some warmth returning to the situation between Iraq and Kuwait, thanks to the efforts deployed by the countries of the region, primarily the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, particularly during the Arab Summit Conference held in Beirut. We hope for the continuation of such a positive development conducive to a resolution of all the pending problems, especially the issue of the detainees, prisoners and missing persons, in a way as to ensure respect for Kuwait’s sovereignty and ward off the foreign threats of a strike against Iraq while preserving the latter’s territorial integrity and lifting the embargo imposed on it.

One reason for satisfaction is the now stable security situation in the Balkans and the fact that the Fund for the Return of Refugees and Displaced Persons for Bosnia and Herzegovina to their homes and hearth and preserve the Islamic identity of the Muslim community there, has gone into action. Allow me, in this respect to express my thanks and gratitude to those member states, having made financial contributions in favor of that Fund.

In the same vein of optimism, I would like to refer to the positive development in Sierra Leone where the long-awaited legislative elections, since the end of the painful period of rebellion, have finally taken place. They marked the start of a new era of rehabilitation and reconstruction. The OIC had a share - a part it played in the phases that culminated such a settlement. It remains that we must honor what we promised to our brethren in Sierra Leone, in terms of the assistance and contributions pledged to the Reconstruction Fund set up by the Organization for the purpose.

Concerning the Economy, the latest statistics of the OIC Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC) proved, once again, that the development rate in the majority of our members remained below the overall ratio in the other developing nations. It doesn’t need a person to be a highly qualified economic expert to realize that the world today has become a global community where there is no room whatsoever for individual economy, nor is there a single State that can claim to be able to live in a vacuum, away from what happens in the rest of the world, or face up individually to the challenges of our time without sheltering itself under the banner of one of the major groupings just to enjoy minimal economic protection, let its voice be heard and reap some of the benefits of economic integration. The rich countries that now have a strong foothold making them affluent in controlling the Economy came to that conclusion long ago. We have seen them erecting the major economic strongholds or bastions in Europe where the European Union (EU) came into existence, in North America with the emergence of the North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA), in Asia where the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established, and elsewhere.

Despite the repeated calls, urging the States of the Islamic world to combine their economic efforts and act collectively and in spite of the plans of action adopted by the OIC to strengthen economic and commercial cooperation among member states as well as the numerous Agreements and Statutes worked out under OIC auspices and the preliminary studies produced to create an Islamic Common Market, it is the unilateral outlook that continues to govern the way with which most of the States of the Islamic world are dealing with the economic challenge. The inevitable result is for our countries to be bogged down in their present position. It can still be argued, however, that the free trade agreements concluded between certain Islamic States, do form a nucleous that could grow into an Islamic Common Market if the other Islamic States were to follow suit.

In the meantime, the Islamic Group at the World Trade Organization (WTO) should coordinate their efforts and positions when the issue of the “developmental dimension” is incorporated in that Organization’s expanded Agenda. It would also be beneficial if all the Member States seek to join the world organization in question so that the Islamic world may have its say - that would be heard -therein.

To conclude this chapter, I should like to express my satisfaction over the laudable efforts carried out by the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to develop the economy of the member states. No doubt that the approval given by the 9th Islamic Summit Conference to raise the Bank’s capital considerably, coupled with the practical measures taken to turn such an increase into reality will have a great impact on the development and diversification of the activities of that institution in the best interest of the member states’ economies.

(Excerpts from speech in OIC Foreign Ministers meeting in Khartoum on June 25, 2002).