The 30th Session of the COMCEC convened in Istanbul on 25-28 November 2014 with the participation of delegates from the member countries. The session started in the first two days with the meeting of senior officials. During the Meeting, the delegations of the Member States and the OIC institutions considered and deliberated on a number of agenda items related to various issues of enhancing economic and commercial cooperation among the Member States. The issues include: Review of the implementation of the COMCEC Strategy and the OIC Ten-Year Program of Action and the Plan of Action; world economic developments with special reference to the OIC member countries; expansion of intra-OIC trade; enhancing the role of private sector in economic cooperation; improving transport and communications; developing a sustainable and competitive tourism sector; increasing productivity of agriculture sector and sustaining food security; eradicating poverty; deepening financial cooperation; exchange of views on “the role of public private partnerships for the development of the tourism sector in the OIC member states”.

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The 2014 Annual Meeting of the Central Banks and Monetary Authorities of the OIC Member Countries was organised jointly by SESRIC and Bank Indonesia, and held on 5-6 November 2014 in Surabaya, Republic of Indonesia. Delegates from more than 30 OIC member countries including governors, deputy governors, technical experts, and senior representatives of relevant OIC and other international organisations including the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), International Monetary Fund (IMF), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB), and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) attended the Meeting. Themed “Dealing with Financial Stability Risks: Macro-prudential Policy and Financial Deepening in Islamic Finance”, the two-day Meeting was comprised of an Expert Group Workshop (EGW) in the first day, followed by a Governors Meeting in the second. The Centre was represented by Prof. Savas Alpay, Director-General, Mr. Nabil Dabour, Director of Research, and Mr. Nadi Serhan Aydin, Senior Researcher.

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SESRIC, Islamic Development Bank Group (IDB) and Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) sign a very timely MoU concerning expanding their cooperation for enhancing the socio-economic development in the OIC member countries in a more structured manner on 26 June 2014 on the sideline of the 39th IDB Annual Meeting held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The MoU was jointly signed by Prof. Savaş Alpay, Director General of SESRIC, Dr. Ahmad Muhamed Ali, President of the IDB and Dr. Serdar Çam, President of TIKA.

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The 4th Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) was held on 20-21 May 2014 in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China.

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The Centre, in collaboration with the Turkish Employment Agency (İŞKUR), organised a workshop on “The First Meeting on Public Employment Services in OIC Member Countries”, on 29-30 April 2014, at SESRIC Headquarters in Ankara, Republic of Turkey.

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The Eleventh Harvard University Forum on Islamic Finance, organized by the Harvard University Islamic Finance Project, was held from April 25 to 27, 2014, in Austin Hall at Harvard Law School, Harvard University, under the theme “Takaful and Alternative Cooperative Finance.” The Eleventh Forum sought to reassess and critically engage with issues of risk sharing, mutuality, solidarity, and socioeconomic welfare in the context of a discussion about Takaful and other types of cooperative financial solutions. The Centre was represented at the Eleventh Forum by Prof. Savaş Alpay, Director-General, and Mr. Nadi Serhan Aydin, Senior Researcher.

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The Fourth Session of the Statistical Commission of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC-StatCom) was co-organised by the Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) at SESRIC Headquarters on 21-23 April 2014 in Ankara, Republic of Turkey.

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The Statistical Centre for the Cooperation Council for the Arab Countries of the Gulf (GCC-Stat) celebrated its official inauguration under the patronage of H.E. Yousef Bin Alawi Bin Abdullah, Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs of the Sultanate of Oman on 09 April 2014 in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman.

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The Signing Ceremony, which has been organized by the COMCEC Coordination Office (CCO), for the successful projects under the COMCEC Project Cycle Management (PCM) was held in Ankara on April 2nd, 2014. A total of 15 successful projects under the COMCEC PCM, the main implementation instrument of the new COMCEC Strategy, have been announced on March 9th, 2014. These projects were submitted by 10 OIC member countries namely Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Cameroon, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Pakistan, Palestine, and Uganda and two OIC institutions including SESRIC. Prof. Savaş Alpay, Director General of SESRIC, signed the operational and financial agreements of two successful projects of SESRIC entitled to receive grants within the framework of COMCEC Project Cycle Management (PCM).

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H.E. Dato Haji Ismail bin Haji Abdulmuttalib, Deputy Minister of Human Resources of Malaysia, visited SESRIC Headquarters on 17 February 2014, together with a delegation from the Ministry of Human Resources of Malaysia, and accompanied by H.E. Mr. Amran Mohamed Zin, Ambassador of Malaysia to Turkey. Also present were Mr. Kasım Özer, the Director General of General Directorate of Occupational Health and Safety of Turkey, together with managers and experts from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security of Turkey.

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H.E. Dr. Cevdet Yılmaz, Minister of Development of the Republic of Turkey, paid a courtesy visit to SESRIC on 24th January 2014. H.E. the Minister was accompanied by Mr. Ahmet Yaman, Deputy Undersecretary of the Ministry of Development, and Mr. Metin Eker, Director General of the COMCEC Coordination Office. H.E. the Minister was welcomed by the Director General of the Centre, Prof. Savaş Alpay, where he expressed his gratitude to the Minister for designating his valuable time for this honourable visit to SESRIC. Following the welcoming, H.E. the Minister was briefed by the heads of the technical departments at the Centre on the activities of their respective departments. The presentations on the activities of the Centre were made by Mr. Hüseyin Hakan Eryetli, Director of Statistics and Information Department, Mr. Nabil M. Dabour, Director of Economic and Social Research Department, and Mr. Mehmet F. Serenli, Director of Training and Technical Cooperation Department.

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H.E. Iyad Ameen Madani, Secretary General of the OIC, paid an official visit to the Republic of Turkey on 14-15 January 2014. During his two-day official visit to Ankara, H.E. the Secretary General was received by H.E. Abdullah Gül, President of the Republic of Turkey, and H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister. He also had meetings with H.E. Ali Babacan, Deputy Prime Minister, H.E. Ahmet Davutoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs and H.E. Cevdet Yılmaz, Minister of Development. The Secretary General was briefed by the COMCEC Coordination Office on its activities and COMCEC’s new strategy. On 15th January, the Secretary General addressed the 6th Turkish Ambassadorial Conference, which was attended by Turkish ambassadors serving overseas.

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