Official Records
General Assembly
Fifty-fourth Session
38th plenary meeting
Monday, 25 October 1999, 10 a.m.
New York
President: Mr. Gurirab ……………………………………. (Namibia)
In the absence of the President, Mr. Ingólfsson (Iceland), Vice-President, took the Chair.
The meeting was called to order at 10.10 a.m.
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Agenda item 29
Cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference
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Mr. Haque (Pakistan): The report of the Secretary-General on cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) (A/54/308) summarizes the progress achieved over the past year by the United Nations system and the OIC in promoting their shared goals of international peace, security and development. It is a matter of satisfaction to my delegation that the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference have continued effective contacts and consultations on a number of current political issues, including Afghanistan, the Middle East and Palestine, Somalia and Tajikistan. Their mutually supportive role and their determination to promote negotiations to resolve those conflicts have received wide international support.
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Mr. Ka (Senegal) (spoke in French): I wish to thank the Secretary-General for the quality of his report and for the thoughtfulness and work he put into it.
The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has more than 50 member States, representing one fifth of the world’s population throughout all the continents. This almost universal representation confers upon the OIC duties and obligations on a world scale. Thus, it is only natural that it should share the goals and principles, as well as the concerns, of the United Nations. Hence, the importance which the States members of the OIC that are also Members of the United Nations attach to cooperation between these two organizations within the framework of a mutually beneficial partnership.
The political will to establish, strengthen and expand that cooperation has allowed the creation of appropriate consultation machinery for combining the efforts of the two organizations in the search for solutions to the crises facing the Islamic Ummah. Among these crises, the question of Palestine, which was central to the creation of the OIC, occupies a special place. My country, Senegal, which holds the chairmanship of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, can testify to the vitality of relations between the United Nations and the OIC on this question.
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Mr. Aboul Gheit (Egypt) (spoke in Arabic): …
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Egypt is particularly pleased with the follow-up to consultations between the United Nations and the OIC on political questions, particularly those related to the maintenance of international peace and re-establishment of peace, by way of meetings between the two secretaries-general of the two organizations or through regular consultations between high officials on political issues. Such consultations are an important tool for conveying the concerns of member States of the OIC, whose membership is almost one third of the United Nations membership, about issues of common interest for the two organizations, so as to make a real contribution to international efforts designed to find just, comprehensive and balanced answers to these concerns.
We would like to give some examples, though this is not an exhaustive list. We have the questions of Palestine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Afghanistan and many others related to international peace and security, areas which need concerted efforts on the part of the international community in order to find just political solutions for them. …
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As regards aspects of cooperation between various United Nations organs and bodies and the OIC, I pay tribute to the cooperation of these two organizations in the humanitarian field through coordination with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the OIC, and also through the support given by the OIC and its States to the efforts of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East for the provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance to Palestinian refugees.
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The Acting President: The Assembly will now take a decision on draft resolution A/54/L.12.
May I take it that the Assembly decides to adopt draft resolution A/54/L.12?
Draft resolution A/54/L.12 was adopted (resolution 54/7).
The Acting President: May I take it that it is the wish of the Assembly to conclude its consideration of agenda item 29?
It was so decided.
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The meeting rose at 12.10 p.m.
Document Type: Meeting record
Document Sources: General Assembly, Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC)
Subject: Agenda Item, Middle East situation, Palestine question, Peace proposals and efforts
Publication Date: 25/10/1999