UN POPULATION FUND, ISLAMIC CONFERENCE SIGN COOPERATION AGREEMENT
Press Release
POP/682
UN POPULATION FUND, ISLAMIC CONFERENCE SIGN COOPERATION AGREEMENT
19981005 NEW YORK, 5 October (UNFPA) -- The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Organization of the Islamic Conference signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 2 October by which they agreed to consider holding high-level meetings of Islamic Conference member States to find ways of cooperating in population-related areas, such as reproductive health, including family life education, censuses and surveys. The document takes effect immediately.The UNFPA's Executive Director, Dr. Nafis Sadik, and the Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Dr. Azeddine Laraki, signed the Memorandum at UNFPA headquarters. The Permanent Observer of the Islamic Conference to the United Nations, Mokhtar Lamani, and the Director of UNFPA's Technical and Policy Division, Mohammed Nizamuddin, attended the occasion.
"This is the beginning of new cooperation and of doing many things together", said Dr. Sadik, after signing the Memorandum. "With this agreement, we hope to put population issues higher on the agenda of the member countries of the OIC. We hope to interact better at the political level with the OIC countries to carry forward the commitments they made at the International Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo."
By the terms of their Memorandum, the two parties will collaborate, with UNFPA's technical help, to strengthen the capacity of the secretariat of the Islamic Conference to formulate population-related policies and to compile and analyse relevant data. They will also share information on their work and invite each other to their respective meetings, when necessary.
The UNFPA and the Islamic Conference signed the agreement conscious of the need for closer cooperation and after taking note of their desire to work together on common objectives in social and economic development, according to the text. They also note that UNFPA's mission is, among other things, to build up the capacity to respond to national and regional needs in population. It is also to promote awareness of the social, economic and environmental implications of population challenges in line with the Population and Development Conference Programme of Action.
The Islamic Conference, comprising about 60 member and observer States, promotes cooperation among its members in the political, economic, scientific
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and cultural spheres. It also helps its members improve their peoples' living standards.
Even before the Memorandum, the UNFPA had been helping the Islamic Organization for Education, Science and Culture -affiliated with the Islamic Conference -- with which it signed a cooperation agreement in October 1996. It has been supporting efforts to enhance the capacity of theologians and Islamic education officials of the Islamic Organization's member States to interpret population issues -- including reproductive health and the gender dimension -- from an Islamic perspective.
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