Republic of Kazakhstan and
Organization of Islamic cooperation
Kazakhstan became a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at the 23rd session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of the OIC held in Conakry (Republic of Guinea) on 9-12 December 1995.
The permanent mission of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the OIC started functioning in March 2010 in Jeddah.
Since March 2019, the Permanent representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the OIC is the Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Aryn Berik Sakbayuly.
The most important event in the history of cooperation of Kazakhstan with OIC was the Chairmanship of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the OIC in 2011-2012, during the chairmanship, Kazakhstan held in Astana the 38th session of the OIC Council of foreign Ministers28-30 June 2011, which adopted the historic decision to rename the organization of the Islamic conference (OIC) the Organization of Islamic cooperation (OIC). The participants of the meeting also adopted the Astana Declaration of the OIC, which has become the most progressive document of the Organization, proclaiming modernization and reform as the basis for the development of the Islamic world in the twenty-first century.
It should be mentioned that Kazakhstan's chairmanship in the OIC was formed on the basis of the five initiatives of the First President of Kazakhstan: the creation of the food safety system in the area of the OIC the creation of mechanism to support small and medium business, creation of dialogue platform leading Islamic economies, the establishment of investment and technological cooperation in the energy sphere and ensuring the participation of representatives of OIC in the "G-20".
Within the framework of the 38th session of the Ministry of foreign Affairs, more than a hundred historical resolutions were also adopted, including those put forward on the initiative of Kazakhstan the field of combating the illegal production and trafficking of drugs from Afghanistan and the rehabilitation of the regions of the former Semipalatinsk nuclear test site and the Aral sea.
As part of a large-scale campaign conducted under the auspices of the Kazakh chairmanship, funds for Somalia totaling more than $ 500 million were accumulated.
The basis for Kazakhstan's participation in the activities of the OIC at the present stage is the large-scale initiatives of Elbasy for the Islamic world that are in demand and supported by its Member States:
- Establishment of the Islamic Organization for Food Security (IOFS);
- Promotion of the Islamic reconciliation (Islamic Rapprochement);
- Development of the strategic program document "Islamic infrastructure integration" (Triple I).
Currently, all three initiatives form the current agenda of Kazakhstan in the OIC.
The IOFS Charter entered into full legal force in March 2018. The headquarters of the Organization is located in Nur-Sultan and officially began its activities on February 19, 2018, and on December 12, 2019, it was officially opened. The main goal of the IOFS is to consolidate the capabilities of the OIC member States in the field of food security.
Currently, 34 States are members of the IOFS, of which 12 (Kazakhstan, Niger, Burkina Faso, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Gambia, Palestine, Bangladesh, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt) have ratified the Charter of the Organization and this document has entered into full legal force.
President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev took part in the regular 13th OIC Summit in Istanbul on 14-15April 2016. Within the framework of this Summit, the Head of state, in collaboration with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, put forward an initiative to launch the process of Islamic reconciliation (Islamic Rapprochement).
Within the framework of the initiative, the Ministry of foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan together with the General Secretariat of the OIC on the basis of the Kazakh National University. On April 22-24, 2019, al-Farabi held a seminar in Almaty entitled "Islamic reconciliation Initiative: prospects for peace and conflict resolution in the OIC member States".
Currently, the initiative for Islamic reconciliation is on the agenda of the OIC and is in the focus of attention of member States in the context of issues related to conflict resolution in the OIC space.
The main goal of the "Islamic Infrastructure Initiative" (Triple I) is the maximum possible integration of transport and logistics systems operating in the OIC space by combining three special development programs of the IDB for "Central Asia", "Africa", "Middle East and North Africa".
These initiatives were supported by the participants of the Istanbul OIC Summit and are enshrined in its Final communique. Currently, the IDB is working on the issue of maximum possible integration of transport and logistics systems operating in the OIC space by combining three special development programs of the IDB for "Central Asia", "Africa", "Middle East and North Africa".
A major event in Kazakhstan's cooperation with the OIC was the holding of the first ever OIC summit on science and technology on the theme "Science, Technology, Innovation and Modernization of the Islamic world" on 10-11 September 2017 in Nur-Sultan on the initiative of Elbasy. The main outcome of the Summit was the adoption of the Astana Declaration and the "OIC Program for the development of science, technology and innovation until 2026".
At the 1st Summit on science and technology of the OIC, which was held on 10-11 September 2017 in Nur-Sultan, in order to increase the educational and scientific potential of Islamic countries, Elbasy proposed to establish a comprehensive mechanism for the creation of an international group of the OIC-15 of the fifteen leading Muslim countries in this field.
In order to implement the initiatives of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the field of science and technology, the post Of Deputy Secretary General of the OIC for science and technology was taken by a citizen of Kazakhstan, Ambassador A. Musinov.
Almaty hosted a seminar organized by the Ministry of foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan with the assistance of the OIC General Secretariat, the OIC Standing Committee on scientific and technological cooperation (COMSTECH) and the Kazakh national University. al-Farabi, dedicated to the implementation of this initiative on 19 November 2019,.
An important aspect of interaction should be recognized as the development of cooperation between the Republic of Kazakhstan and the financial structures of the OIC, especially with the Islamic development Bank, which is one of the largest investors in the Muslim world and established in August 1997 in Almaty one of its four regional offices, responsible for coordinating the Bank's activities with the countries of Eastern Europe, the CIS, Mongolia and China. The total investment portfolio of the IDB in Kazakhstan is about 700 million dollars.
OIC supports the creation of a special OIC program for Central Asia. This project provides support and cooperation from the Organization in stimulating trade operations, investment, and implementation of industrial projects of mutual interest both for Central Asia and for the countries of the Muslim community.
Islamic Cooperation Organization
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which until 2011 was called the Organization of the Islamic Conference, was established in 1969. The Organization received its current name in accordance with the decision of the 38th session of the OIC Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, which was held in Nur-Sultan on June 28-30, 2011.
The headquarters of the OIC General Secretariat is located in Jeddah (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia).
The Secretary General of the OIC is the representative of Saudi Arabia, Yousef bin Ahmad Al-Otheymin since November 17, 2016.
The organization has outlined its main goals as struggling for the legitimate rights of the people of Palestine, strengthening of cooperation between Muslim countries on a wide range of issues, coordinating positions on current international issues, and protecting the Islamic heritage rights. These goals still form the current OIC agenda.
Currently, the OIC has 57 member states[1] with a population of more than 1.5 billion people, and from this point of view it is the second largest international organization in the world after the UN. 5 countries and 5 international organizations[2] have observer status at OIC.
The working languages of the OIC are English, Arabic and French.
The supreme body of the OIC is the Summit of Heads of States and Government of the Member States of the Organization, which is convened once every 3 years. The last 14th OIC Summit was held on May 31, 2019 in Mecca (Saudi Arabia).
The OIC working body is the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the OIC Member States convened on an annual basis.
The function of the Advisory Body is performed by the Executive Committee, which includes the current, previous and future chairmen of the OIC summits and Councils of Foreign Ministers, as well as a representative of the host country of the headquarters of the General Secretariat (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) and the Secretary General of the Organization.
The OIC executive body is the General Secretariat, which oversees the implementation of OIC decisions.
The main documents of the OIC are:
- The OIC Charter, adopted in March 2008 during the 11th OIC Summit, which to date, 44 out of 57 Member States have signed and ratified 23. Kazakhstan ratified the Charter in 2012.
- The second 10-year strategic document “OIS-2025: Program of Action” adopted at the end of the 13th Summit of the Organization in April 2016 in Istanbul.
The fundamental principle of the OIC is that cooperation between members of the Organization should be based on the principle of “Islamic solidarity”. This principle expands the membership of the OIC in comparison with other organizations whose membership is based more on the geographical principle. Moreover, despite the factors holding back the potential for the development of the OIC, the principle of Islamic identity has allowed the Organization to avoid serious crises and gives it the opportunity to remain on the world stage the main spokesman for the interests of the Islamic world in all its diversity.
In the face of the OIC, Islamic states have a unique dialogue platform where they can discuss issues of interest to them.
The adoption in 2005 of the 10-year strategic document - “OIC-2015: Program of Action” and in 2016 the program “OIC-2025: Program of Action” is aimed at consolidating and subordinating the activities of the Organization to a unified and consistent vision of its development in the context of modern global challenges facing the Islamic world.
[1]Afghanistan, Algeria, Albania, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Comoros, ivory coast, Djibouti, Egypt, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gabon, Guyana, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Mali, Maldives, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen (membership suspended based on the results of the 4th emergency OIC summit convened by Saudi Arabia in August 2012. in Mecca), Chad, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Sierra Leone, Tajikistan, Togo, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan.
[2]Observer States are Russia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Thailand, Central African Republic, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (recognized only by Turkey). Observer organizations - UN, non-aligned Movement, League of Arab States, African Union, economic cooperation Organization.