Since the early 1970s, member states of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) have been pursuing the goal of enhancing economic and commercial cooperation to improve the economic linkages and coordination among themselves and to jointly act against the global challenges facing them. Trade has been paid special importance in this regard and, accordingly, considerable efforts have been so far spent at various OIC levels to develop ways and means of joint cooperative action to expand the trade among the OIC countries (intra-OIC trade).

The Framework Agreement on Trade Preferential System among the Member States of the OIC (TPS-OIC), adopted by the 6th Session of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the OIC (COMCEC) held in Istanbul, Turkey, in October 1990, is the most notable initiative in this context. The Agreement, which set up the general principles towards establishing a preferential trade system, aims at promoting trade among the member states through the exchange of trade preferences on the basis of equal and non-discriminatory treatment among all participating Member States. However, it was not until 2002 that the Agreement became effective upon ratification by 10 member states. Then, related to that agreement, followed two agreements in November 2005 and September 2007: (i) Protocol on the Preferential Tariff Scheme for TPS-OIC (PRETAS) that mainly deals with reducing the tariffs of the products covered under the Scheme as well as para-tariff and non-tariff barriers, and (ii) TPS-OIC Rules of Origin that, after entering into force, will be applied for determining the origin of the products eligible for preferential concessions under the TPS-OIC and PRETAS. The protocol entered into force in 5 February 2010 after ratification by 10 participating member states while the agreement on rules of origin is still waiting for additional four ratifications.

Online Electronic Version

An Overview of the Trade among OIC Countries (English)