Muslims Want Islamic Free Trade Zone

From Correspondents In Istanbul
25 November 2005
the Herald Sun
(Australia)

The head of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference called Thursday on its members to work for the creation of a Free Trade Zone "in the near future."

"It is imperative for our countries to accelerate the process of economic and trade cooperation inside the OIC, which in turn will act as a lever...to ensure that some of our economies are not further marginalised," OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said in Istanbul.

He was speaking at the opening of the 21st Annual Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC).

Ihsanoglu invited those states that had not yet done so to sign and ratify as fast as possible a framework agreement on trade preferences between OIC members so they could "enter discussions" on the creation of a Free Trade Zone "in the near future."

The aim of the agreement, ratified by some 10 members, is a progressive reduction in customs duties in signatory states.

During the opening ceremony Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer lamented the fact that "OIC member states account for 22 per cent of the world's population but only 5 per cent of the world's gross national product and 8 per cent of international trade."

"These figures underline the need of member states...to engage in more intensive cooperation," he said.

"It is clear that we shall succeed in reaching our development aims by means of the Constitution of an Islamic Economic Union," added Shaikh Saleh Bin Abdullah Kamel, President of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry, cited by the Anatolia News Agency.

The system of trade preferences between OIC members, the development of tourism and the intensification of the war on poverty are on the agenda for discussion by 230 representatives from 51 of the OIC's 57 member states.

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