The Third Coordination Committee Meeting on the Implementation of the ‘Framework for Development and Cooperation in the Domain of Tourism among OIC Member States’
Date: 12-13 June 2012
Venue: Tehran - Iran

The Third Coordination Committee Meeting on the implementation of the “Framework for Development and Cooperation in the Domain of Tourism among OIC Member States” was held in Tehran, Iran, on 12-13 June 2012. The Meeting was attended by the following Members of the Coordination Committee: Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Sudan, Republic of Turkey. The representative of the OIC General Secretariat and those of the following OIC institutions also attended the Meeting: SESRIC, IRCICA, ICDT, ISESCO, and COMCEC Coordination Office (CCO). Mr. Efe Kerem Aydın, Research Assistant, represented SESRIC at the Meeting.

At the opening session, the representative of Iranian delegation, Mrs. Ladan Jafari Tehrani, Director General of Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organisaton (ICHTO), welcomed all delegations and referred to the great increase in the number of international tourists from 940 million in 2010 to 980 million in 2011. She expressed her hope that regarding high potentials of Islamic Countries in the field of tourism, OIC would develop and adopt appropriate and effective strategies based on development of intra-OIC Tourism flow. The representative of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey, as Chairman of the Third Tourism Coordination Committee, made a statement in which he welcomed the participants and made the adoption of Agenda and Work Programme of the meeting.

The representative of the OIC, Mr. Abdunur Sekindi, presented the Progress report on Implementation of OIC Framework for Development and Cooperation in the domain of Tourism, and the Short Term Plan and Programme, which was the aim of the First Coordination Committee’s meeting and decision the 6th Islamic Conference of Tourism Ministers (ICTM), including recent bilateral activities and regional projects. He also mentioned SESRIC’s activities in the field of tourism such as workshop organisations and database establishments on tourism.

The Committee reviewed and discussed the proposals and activities for the implementation of the Framework submitted by the OIC General Secretariat, SESRIC, IRCICA, ICDT, ISESCO and country reports presented by Republic of Turkey and Islamic Republic of Iran.

The Committee also reviewed and discussed the implementation of the Framework Document on Tourism and the Resolutions of the 7th session of ICTM. In this context, the meeting considered the Mechanism and Criteria for the selection of OIC City of Tourism and recommended its immediate circulation among the Member States. The meeting also took note of the Mechanism and Criteria for the award of OIC Seal of Excellence for Handicrafts presented by the Islamic Republic of Iran. In addition, the meeting welcomed the Member States that have taken steps towards the simplification of visa, customs and foreign exchange procedures and called upon other Member States to take similar steps in order to promote intra-OIC tourism.

In the context of the programme, at the end of the first day of the Coordination Committee Meeting, the delegations were taken to the International Fairs of Iran where Iranian and other Countries’ handicrafts were exhibited.