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Mr. Chairman,
I would like to offer my warmest respects and
great appreciation to President Al-Assad for his
excellent opening address. Also, my
congratulations to you, Mr. Chairman and my very
best wishes for the coming year.
We are most grateful to your government and
people for their very kind welcome and for the
most generous hospitality we have received in
this beautiful ancient city.
Lastly, my warmest thanks to Minister Kutesa and
the Government of Uganda for their excellent
work over the past year.
Mr. Chairman,
This region has had many names but there is one
that sums it up for our people.
It is the heartland of our faith.
And the heart is a real one. This means that we
feel deeply concerned when it is under stress,
as parts of it have been for a very long time.
So, I would like to begin by expressing our deep
friendship and support for all our friends and
colleagues in the region, especially the people
of Palestine. They have been struggling for
peace and justice for over sixty years and, once
again, we in Brunei Darussalam assure them of
our solidarity with them.
In specific terms, Mr. Chairman, we stand firmly
by the United Nations Security Council
resolution 242 and similarly with your own
government’s position on the Golan Height, we
stand by resolution 338. In both cases we are
guided by the people of Palestine and Syria and
we wish their governments well in all their
efforts on behalf of their people.
I would also like to add my welcome to the
growing number of countries, institutions and
group who are with us here. It is very good to
see this and we will continue to encourage
others to join with us in whatever way they can.
Mr. Chairman,
I like the theme you have chosen for this
session: "Enhancing Islamic Solidarity"
It may look vague. It may sound academic. In
fact, it is neither. It is precise and practical
and it is most timely.
As we said last year at the summit in Dakar we
wish to see a united Islamic Ummah. By this, we
mean a people who are united in their ability to
take on the 21st century on 21st century terms
with solid hope and solid confidence.
Last year, we saw the focus of this as the
ten-year action plan. We still do. Much however
has changed since last year, of course. There
are now serious economic and financial problems
facing the whole international community.
So, the question we all face goes to the core of
our plan of action.
How will these problems affect us?
Right now, we are nearly half-way through it and
as the Secretary-General has reported it is
producing good results.
Our organisation is working well with other
international groups and agencies. It is doing a
very good job promoting Islamic causes, views
and concerns. It is also helping to build up
international understanding among faith and, at
the same time trade between our members is
increasing and there is progress in our efforts
to reach the targets for the millennium
development goals.
As a result, the organisation becomes stronger.
It has increased its stature and it is gaining
wider international respect.
Nevertheless, the international financial crisis
could easily set back all these achievements. It
could leave our people feeling utterly helpless
and without hope and confidence.
I am sure we all share this fear, Mr. Chairman
so I hope we can make our response directly to
our people. I hope we can give them three strong
statements.
Firstly: “the financial crisis will not affect
the work of the Islamic Development Bank, the
Islamic Centre for the Development of Trade nor
that of any of our agencies.”
Secondly: “it will not stop our governments’
efforts to reach the millennium development
goals.”
And lastly: “we will stick to all our targets in
the ten-year plan."
If we can say all this, no one can accuse us of
having only a culture of complaint. Instead, we
will be seen as having a culture of confidence.
In doing so, we will show our people that we are
much more than an organisation. They will feel
that we are now a real movement moving towards a
strong future and helping them face that future
with hope and honour.
In this way, Mr. Chairman, we will be truly be
enhancing Islamic Solidarity…. And in the
deepest and finest possible way.
Thank you.
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