Kazakhstan took part in the extraordinary OIC Summit in Saudi Arabia

Kazakhstan took part in the extraordinary OIC Summit in Saudi Arabia

Riyadh, November 11, 2023 - The delegation of the Republic of Kazakhstan headed by Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Foreign Affairs Murat Nurtleu took part in the extraordinary joint summit of the League of Arab States (LAG) and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on the issue of Palestine.

The event was attended by heads of states, governments, ministers of foreign affairs of state-members of the OIC. The participants expressed their opinion on the need for a peaceful settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the return of legal territories to Palestine, and also called for an immediate cessation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip.

In his speech at the Summit, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan declared that Kazakhstan fully supports the legal rights of Palestinians to self-determination and the creation of an internationally recognized Palestinian state within the borders of 1967 with the capital in East Jerusalem. It was emphasized that the settlement of the Middle East crisis is possible exclusively on the basis of the formula "Two states for two nations" approved by the UN Security Council.

"Kazakhstan has shown and continues to show solidarity with OIC member countries, calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip," said Murat Nurtleu, adding that with this goal, Kazakhstan voted for the resolution calling for a ceasefire, which was proposed by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan at the extraordinary special session of the UN General Assembly on October 27 of this year.

The head of the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Kazakhstan noted that, unfortunately, civilians, including too many children, women and the elderly, became innocent victims of the conflict. Deep concern was also expressed about the situation with the citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan, who are currently in the Gaza Strip and do not have the opportunity to leave this territory.

In this regard, Murat Nurtleu informed the participants of the Summit that during his recent telephone conversation with the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, Eli Cohen, he called for an immediate ceasefire and the search for a peaceful solution to this conflict by all parties. It was noted that the safety of civilians is the highest priority.

Kazakhstan highly appreciated the decision of the Arab Republic of Egypt to provide corridors for the provision of medical and humanitarian assistance to the civilian population of Gaza. For its part, our country has donated one million US dollars for the brotherly people of Palestine and plans to provide additional humanitarian aid.

The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan appealed to international and humanitarian organizations to intervene in the current extremely difficult situation in the Gaza Strip and proposed to use the existing mechanism of the Islamic Food Security Organization to provide emergency humanitarian aid to the residents of Gaza.

As a result, the participants of the Summit adopted a resolution in which it was stated that the Gaza Strip is an inseparable part of the Palestinian territories on the West Bank. Israel was held responsible for the armed conflict in the sector. The League of Arab Nations and the OIC agreed to create a financial security system to support the Palestinians.

On the sidelines of the Summit, the head of Kazakh Foreign Ministry held a number of bilateral meetings with the Prime Minister of Pakistan Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh Abul Kalam Abdul Momen, Shegun Ajadi Bakari of Benin, Saifuddin Abdullah of Malaysia, Geoffrey Oneyamo of Nigeria, Asad bin Tariq of Oman, and also talked with the General Secretary of the OIC Hissein Brahim Taha. The parties discussed topical issues of bilateral cooperation in the political, trade-economic, investment and cultural-humanitarian spheres.

In addition, Murat Nurtleu was held a meeting with the Minister of Investments of Saudi Arabia - the co-chairman of the Kazakh-Saudi intergovernmental commission Khalid Al-Falih, during which the parties discussed the progress of preparations for upcoming joint events, such as the 6th meeting of the intergovernmental commission, the 1st meeting of the Business Council and the Investment Round Table between the two country

Reference: Organization of Islamic Cooperation (until 2011 - Organization of Islamic Conference) created in 1969. The General Secretariat of OIC is located in Jeddah (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia).

Currently, OIC has 57 member states with a total population of more than 1.7 billion people. It is the second largest international organization after the UN. Kazakhstan became a member of the Organization in December 1995.