The First Meeting of the Second Round of Trade Negotiations for Establishing the Trade Preferential System among the OIC Countries (TPS-OIC) was held on 24-26 November 2006 in Istanbul on the sidelines of the Twenty-second Session of the COMCEC. The Meeting was chaired by H.E. Kursat Tuzmen, Minister of State of the Republic of Turkey, and attended by the representatives of 17 member countries of the Trade Negotiating Committee (TNC) and 10 other OIC member countries. Representatives of the OIC General Secretariat and the following institutions also attended the Meeting: COMCEC Coordination Office, ICDT, IDB, SESRTCIC, GCC, ECO and WAEMU. Dr. Savas Alpay, Director General, and Mr. Ilhan Ugurel, Adviser, represented the Centre thereat.

The TNC Secretariat made a presentation on the background and output of the First Round as well as the issues to be discussed during the Second Round of Trade Negotiations. It pointed out that the rules of origin and non-tariff barriers constitute the two substantive issues on the agenda of the Second Round and that work on them should be finalized within the prescribed 12-month time-frame if the target date of January 2009 for PRETAS is to be met.

After deliberations, the Committee called upon the Member States that have not signed and ratified the Protocol on the Preferential Tariff Scheme for TPS-OIC (PRETAS) to do so at their earliest convenience and decided that the Secretariat would communicate with the TNC members regarding the specific date and venue of the next meeting of the TNC.