Dec 19, 2021: The 17th Extraordinary Session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers kicked off on Sunday at the National Assembly Hall in Islamabad with the participation of 20 Foreign Ministers and 10 Deputy Foreign Ministers from the Muslim world.

70 delegates are attending this historic meeting convened by Saudi Arabia as the head of OIC and hosted by Pakistan to discuss the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan. The meeting began with the recitation of the Holy Quran. The meeting is being chaired by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

The extraordinary OIC meeting is significant as part of the growing international concern about the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and the urgent need to address it. In addition to OIC members and observers, other invited members include non-OIC members from the UN system, international financial institutions (IFIs), international and regional organizations, and major countries such as P-5, EU, and Germany and Japan.

Besides foreign ministers and observers, the special invitees include participants from the United Nations, international financial institutions, and some non-member states, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China, Russia, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the EU.

In the inaugural session, Prime Minister Imran Khan will deliver a keynote address highlighting the situation and drawing the world’s attention to the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.

The delegation from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia arrived late Saturday evening. The delegation was led by the Foreign Minister of KSA Prince Faisal Bin Farhan Al-Saud. Minister for Railways Azam Khan Swati, SAPM on Interfaith Harmony Allama Tahir Ashrafi, Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan Nawaf Bin Saeed Ahmed Al-Maliki and senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received the guests.

Several delegations, including foreign ministers, deputy foreign ministers, foreign secretaries and other senior government officials, have arrived from several countries, including Turkey, Sierra Leone, Somalia, UAE, Tajikistan, Bangladesh, Jordan and Palestine, in Islamabad.

Interim Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is also in the federal capital to attend the special moot.

PM Imran Khan wrote on twitter, “The extraordinary session of OIC [Council of Foreign Ministers] is an expression of solidarity with the Afghan [people and] to focus our collective energies on addressing the dire humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.”

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood reiterated that the objective behind hosting the moot was to attract the world’s attention towards the food shortage, the plight of the children, and the financial difficulties in the war-torn country. He said the economic collapse of Afghanistan would not only impact the immediate neighbours or region but the world in the form of the exodus of refugees, as well as terrorism.

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