DUSHANBE, March 10, Asia-Plus — President Emomali Rahmon today left for Algeria on an official visit, presidential press service said.
During his stay in Algiers, President Rahmon will hold talks with his Algerian counterpart, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, to discuss prospects of bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and Algeria. The two will also exchange views on a number of regional and international issues being of mutual interest.
From Algeria President Rahmon will go to Dakar, Senegal where the eleventh summit of the Organization Islamic Conference (OIC) will be held.
Senior officials of the OIC member nations concluded their two-day meeting on March 9 in Dakar in preparation for the Foreign Ministers meeting, which started today ahead of the 11th Session of the Islamic Summit Conference.
The participants at the senior officials’ meeting focused on the summit’s agenda, the revised OIC charter, the final communiqué, and the resolutions of the summit to present them to the foreign ministers’ meeting and consequently to the summit on March 13-14, 2008.
The summit, titled “Islam in the 21st Century”, is significant due to the current events and challenges facing the Muslim Ummah including the issue of Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Somalia, and Darfur. The issue of Islamophobia has high priority on the agenda whereupon the first report on Islamophobia by the OIC Islamophobia Observatory will be released. Also of priority is the Special Development Program for Africa and raising intra-OIC trade among the member nations from 13% to 20% by 2015 in accordance with the OIC ten-year Program of Action.
