OIC: A familiar sounding name to Filipinos, a high-profile SNAMMM participant

By Gloria Jane Baylon

MANILA, March 14 — Among the expected arrivals on Monday, March 15, for the biggest gathering ever in Manila of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a name that sounds familiar to Filipinos — the Jeddah-based Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).

The OIC is a member-organization of the NAM, participating in the Special NAM Ministerial Meeting (SNAMMM) on interfaith initiatives for peace and development from March 16 to 18 with a three-person delegation headed by its Secretary-General, Ambassador Abdullah A. Alim.

With Abdullah are Ambassador Tarig Ali Bakhiet, Director of the Department of Political Affairs, and Ali Demirci, Professional Officer of the Department of Minority Affairs.

In the road to the peace process in Mindanao, the OIC has been instrumental in talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

In fact, just last year, the OIC was a third-party signatory to the Tripartite Agreement of 2009 with the GRP and the MNLF in proposed amendments to the organic law of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) through Indonesia, the chair of its 13-OIC country committee on the Southern Philippines issue.

The Philippines has been seeking observer-membership in the OIC, which has a permanent observer delegation to the United Nations. An OIC statesman whose name rings a bell to Filipinos is Dr. Ali Abdussalam Treki, Libya’s former foreign minister who is now the President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and will address the SNAMMM, a rare honor for the Philippines.

As of Sunday afternoon, 123 delegations have confirmed attendance — 83 member-countries, 12 observer-countries, three observer-organizations, 23 guest countries, and two guest organizations, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Fifty of the 83 members are sending foreign ministers and deputy ministers.

Philippine Foreign Undersecretary Rafael Seguis, secretary-general of SNAMMM’s national organizing committee, said that of NAM’s member-countries, delegations headed by foreign ministers are:

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Benin, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Senegal, Singapore, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Timor Leste and Zimbabwe.

NAM observer-countries Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia will also be sending their foreign ministers.

NAM members whose delegations are headed by deputy ministers are Bahrain, Cameroon, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kenya, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Maldives, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Syria, Tanzania and Yemen.

Observer-countries headed by deputy ministers are El Salvador, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

NAM member-states with high-level representatives are Algeria, Angola, Bahrain, Belarus, Bolivia, Chile, Comoros, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Dominican Republic, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea Bissau, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Madagascar, Mongolia, Mozambique, Niger, Palestine, Panama, Peru, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Venezuela and Vietnam.

Aside from the OIC, the Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organization and the League of Arab States are the NAM member-organizations which have confirmed their attendance.

Non-NAM members or observers which will be attending as guests include Albania, Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, the Holy See, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and the United States.

The European Commission and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will also be sending representatives to the meeting. (PNA Features) scs/GJB

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