On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will hold a meeting in the Russian capital with Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Hissein Brahim Taha, who is on a working visit to Moscow on October 23-26.
As reported in the ministry, the sides will consider various aspects of bilateral cooperation between Russia and the OIC, including political dialogue, cooperation in the economy, finance, science and education, countering terrorism, ensuring human rights, and promoting inter-civilization and interreligious dialogue.
Lavrov and Taha will pay special attention to discussing the exacerbated international situation, in particular with a focus on its consequences for the world's poorest economies. The Russian foreign minister earlier noted at a meeting with the OIC secretary-general during his working visit to Riyadh in May this year that the OIC countries have an objective and balanced position on the developments in Ukraine, and Moscow appreciates this.
Ramazan Abdulatipov, Russia's Permanent Representative to the OIC, told TASS in August that Western opponents are holding talks with Muslim countries in an attempt to change their attitude toward Russia's special military operation in Ukraine. The diplomat explained that Muslim countries have rich experience in the form of "aggression in Libya and Iraq" not to react to such tricks. He said that under difficult conditions, with the West directing its work against Russia, Muslim countries have proven to be more reliable partners for Russia.
"The Islamic world is a huge world, it's economic, political, geographical, natural and cultural potential, so the development and continuation of cooperation with the Islamic world leads in the long term to the formation of a geopolitical alliance that can work more successfully than today's West for peace and human progress. Hence the relevance of our interaction with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation," Abdulatipov pointed out.
The sides are also expected to discuss the possibility of international cooperation in resolving conflicts in the OIC member states located in the Middle East and Africa. In particular, one of the key topics of the talks will be the issue of Palestinian-Israeli relations, a priority for the OIC.
Cooperation on the rise
Moscow has repeatedly noted that relations between Russia and the OIC countries are on the rise. Russia is ready to further develop ties with the OIC member states on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, respect for cultural and civilizational identity and the right to independently determine the path of development.
A special role in achieving this goal is assigned to the Group of Strategic Vision "Russia - Islamic World", headed by Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov. Thus, as part of the group's activities, from May 19 to 21 this year, Kazan hosted the XIII International Economic Summit "Russia - Islamic World: Kazan Summit 2022", which is the main platform for economic cooperation between Russia and the Islamic world, as well as the next meeting of the GSV "Russia - Islamic World". In addition, earlier Kazan was awarded the status of the OIC Youth Capital 2022. In this status the capital of Tatarstan in 2022 has already hosted and is planning to host international youth events with the participation of the OIC countries.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation is the second-largest international organization after the UN. It was founded in 1969, at that time it was called the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Currently, the OIC includes 57 Muslim states with a population of about 1.6 billion people.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation / TASS
Based on materials from TASS