H.E. Zehra Zümrüt SELÇUK paid a courtesy visit to H.E. Khairul Firdaus AKBAR KHAN, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture of Malaysia, on 21 September 2023 in Putrajaya, Malaysia.

H.E. AKBAR KHAN expressed his gratitude to H.E. SELÇUK for her visit and appreciated SESRIC’s engagement and dedication towards enhancing its collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture of Malaysia. He also reiterated Malaysia’s commitment to working closely with SESRIC and sharing the experience and expertise of Malaysia in various tourism segments with other OIC countries through SESRIC’s capacity-building programmes and initiatives.

During the meeting, H.E. SELÇUK briefed the Deputy Minister on SESRIC’s activities regarding the tourism sector in OIC member countries, mainly the Centre’s Tourism Capacity Building Programme (Tourism-CaB). She also highlighted SESRIC’s willingness to fostering knowledge exchange and collaboration among OIC member countries as well as promoting and enhancing intra-OIC cooperation for the development of a resilient tourism sector in the OIC region.

In addition, she pointed out SESRIC’s publications in the domain of tourism, such as “International Tourism in the OIC Countries: Prospects and Challenges” and “Strategic Roadmap for Development of Islamic Tourism in OIC Member Countries”. She also touched upon the importance of increasing Intra-OIC cooperation in line with the resolutions on tourism development among the OIC member countries, which were adopted at the 11^th Session of the Islamic Conference of Tourism Ministers (ICTM) held in June 2022 in Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan.

Both sides discussed ways to strengthen cooperation between SESRIC and the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture of Malaysia for the benefit of OIC member countries and agreed to collaborate on programmes and initiatives to advance the tourism sector in OIC countries in general, and subsegments of the tourism industry, such as Islamic tourism in particular.

This visit was part of H.E. SELÇUK’s steadfast efforts to strengthen SESRIC’s partnerships with the national institutions of the OIC member countries and promote cooperation in important areas of economic and social development.