The 26th Meeting of the Follow-up Committee of the COMCEC was held on 10-12 May 2010 in Antalya, Turkey, with the participation of 11 OIC Member Countries of the Committee (Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Palestine, Senegal, Kuwait, Iran, Cameroon, Pakistan, Qatar, Indonesia and Sierra Leone). The OIC General Secretariat and the following subsidiary, affiliated and specialised organs; namely, SESRIC, ICDT, IDB, ICCI, ITFC, and OISA; attended the Meeting. Representatives of ECO and FAO have also attended the meeting. The Centre was represented at the meeting by its Director General; Mr. Nabil Dabour, Director of Research Department; Mr. Mehmet Fatih Serenli, Director of Training and Technical Cooperation Department; Mr. Nader Abdulhamid, Researcher and Mr. Murat Ilkin, Researcher.

The Committee reviewed and discussed the progress achieved in the implementation of the resolutions and decisions of the 25th COMCEC Session, which was held in November 2009 in Istanbul. The discussion included a set of common issues of concern to the member countries with a view to enhancing economic and commercial cooperation among them. These issues were discussed under the following main Agenda Items: 

• Review of the implementation of the OIC Ten-Year Programme of Action and the Plan of Action to Strengthen Economic and Commercial Cooperation among the OIC Member States; 
• Promotion of intra-OIC trade; 
• Private sector Cooperation; 
• Poverty alleviation and economic/technical assistance to OIC countries; 
• Financial cooperation among the OIC Member States and enhancing intra-OIC investment flows; 
• Preparations for the exchange of views on “Agriculture and Rural Development”.
• Development of the OIC Halal Food Standards and Procedures; 
• E-government applications and their economic impact on the OIC Member States; and
• Activities of the Statistical Working Group.

Under Agenda Item: “Poverty alleviation and economic/technical assistance to OIC countries”, Mr. Nabil Dabour, Director of Research Department at SESRIC, briefed the Committee on the latest developments on cooperation among the Development Cooperation Institutions (DCIs) of the OIC Member Countries. He informed the Committee that the Centre has organised the Experts Group Meeting on “the Establishment of the OIC Development Assistance Committee (OIC-DAC)” in Ankara on 22-23 December 2009. The said Meeting prepared the “Draft Operational Framework for the OIC Development Assistance Committee (OIC-DAC)” and submitted it, for consideration, to the 2nd Meeting of the DCIs of the OIC Member Countries, which has been organised by SESRIC, in collaboration with the OIC General Secretariat and Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) and held on 3-4 May 2010 in Abu Dhabi. In this connection, the Committee welcomed the decision of the 2nd Meeting of the DCI’s on continuing their activities within the framework of the OIC Development Cooperation Forum (OIC-DCF), and requested DCI’s of the member countries to expand their cooperation through exchanging their experiences and joint programs in the member countries, particularly in the least developed ones.

Under the same Agenda Item, Mr. Mehmet Faith Serenli, Director of Training and Technical Cooperation Department at SESRIC, briefed the Committee on the latest developments related to the preparations and implementation of the Vocational Education and Training Programme for the OIC Member Countries (OIC-VET). In this connection, the Committee expressed its appreciation to the SESRIC for its efforts towards the implementation of OIC-VET and welcomed the launching of pilot projects to be implemented in 2010 in coordination with National Focal Points (NFPs) of the Member States and concerned OIC institutions. The Committee called upon the member states that have not done so, to designate their NFPs for the OIC-VET Programme in order to facilitate the communication between SESRIC and the relevant member state and urged the member states to actively participate in the implementation process of the OIC-VET. The Committee also expressed its appreciation to SESRIC for organising the Second Meeting of the Monitoring and Advisory Committee of the OIC-VET on 11 May 2010 in Antalya, Turkey, which discussed the proposed pilot projects by the national focal points.

Under Agenda Item: “Financial cooperation among the OIC Member Countries”, Mr. Nabil Dabour, Director of Research Department at SESRIC, briefed the Committee on the latest developments on cooperation among the Central Banks and Monetary Authorities of the OIC Member Countries. He informed the Committee that the 2nd Meeting of the Central Banks and Monetary Authorities of the OIC Member Countries will be organised by SESRIC, in collaboration with the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, and held in Istanbul on 26-27 September 2010. In this connection, the Committee emphasised the importance of cooperation in the area of Islamic Banking and welcomed the invitation of the Republic of Senegal to the African Ulema Conference to be held on 7-9 June 2010 and Islamic World Ulema Conference to be held in first quarter of 2011 in Dakar, Republic of Senegal. The Committee also welcomed the offer of the Republic of Turkey to host the 2nd Meeting of Member Countries’ Central Banks and Monetary Authorities in Istanbul on 26-27 September 2010 and requested the member states to actively participate in the meeting which will focus, among other issues, on exchange of experiences in Islamic banking system.

Under Agenda Item “Preparation for the exchange of views on the Agriculture and Rural Development”, the representative of the IDB briefed the Committee on the preparations for the Workshop on the said theme which will be organised by the IDB prior to the 26th Session of the COMCEC. Under the same Agenda Item, the Committee took note of the following proposals as possible themes for the exchange of views sessions to be held during the subsequent COMCEC Sessions: (1) The Impact of Exchange Rate Policies and Currency Harmonization on Intra-OIC Trade; (2) Development of Financial Architecture in OIC Member States; and (3) Islamic Banking in the New Financial System. In this context, the Committee requested SESRIC to circulate a questionnaire to the member states to explore their views on the above themes and report to the 26th Session of the COMCEC.

Under Agenda Item: “E-government applications and their impact on the OIC Member States”, Mr. Nabil Dabour, Director of Research Department at SESRIC, briefed the Committee on the latest developments on this Agenda Item. He informed the Committee that the Centre has organised, in collaboration 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), the "International Conference on e-Government: Sharing Experiences" (eGOVsharE2009). The Conference, which was held on 8-11 December 2009 in Antalya, Turkey, brought together leaders, public managers and professionals, ICT representatives and academics from the member countries and elsewhere. During the said Conference, SESRIC also organised a sideline Meeting with the representatives of the OIC Member Countries. In this context, Mr. Dabour informed the Committee that the Centre is working on the establishment of an E-Government Working Group (eGovWG) to be convened in late 2010 with the aim of seeking ways and means for establishing a platform (portal) to facilitate and increase cooperation and collaboration among the OIC Member Countries in the area of e-government applications and services. In this connection, the Committee took note of the recommendations of the Conference organised by SESRIC and welcomed the efforts of SESRIC for the establishment of an information portal which will include relevant information, such as an e-government Experts Database, an OIC e-Practice community, initiative of ICT fellowship programme, etc.

Under Agenda Item: “Activities of the Statistical Working Group”, Mr. Nabil Dabour, Director of Research Department at SESRIC, briefed the Committee on the latest developments on this Agenda Item. He informed the Committee that the Centre organised, in collaboration with the IDB, the Meeting of the National Statistical Organisations (NSOs) of the OIC member countries on 22-23 March 2010 in Istanbul under the theme ‘Statistics for Development in Post-Crisis World’. The Meeting adopted the Istanbul Declaration, in which the representatives of the NSOs agreed to organise the Meeting of NSOs under the title “OIC Statistical Commission (OIC-SC)” annually, and to designate SESRIC the secretariat of the OIC-SC. In this connection, the Committee noted, with appreciation, that IDB will organise the 3rd Meeting of Statistical Working Group in its Headquarters in Jeddah during the Second half of 2010 to review the activities and renew tasks arising from the Istanbul Declaration. The Committee also requested SESRIC and IDB, in collaboration with the NSOs of the member countries, to work on developing a road map for cooperation in the area of statistics as well as a web portal as a source for exchanging information in the area of statistics.

Finally, the Committee prepared the Draft Agenda of the 26th COMCEC Session, which will be held in Istanbul in October 2010.