The IOFS Attends the 49th OIC Council of Foreign Ministers

16 March 2023

His Excellency Pr. Yerlan Alimzhanuly Baidaulet , the Director General of the Islamic Organization of Food Security (IOFS), is leading the IOFS’s delegation attending the 49th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) being held in Nouakchott, Islamic Republic of Mauritania, until 17 March 2023 under theme “Moderation: key to security and stability”.

The first half of the first day was devoted to the Official Ceremony, which featured speeches from high-ranking officials, including the 48th CFM Chairman, H.E. Hina Rabbani Khar, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, who then passed the chairmanship over to the Mauritanian Foreign Minister, H.E. Mr. Mohamed Salem Ould Merzoug.

Prior to H.E. Mr. Mohamed Ould El-Ghazaouani, President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, gave the kick-off of the 49th CFM, H.E. Mr. Hissein Brahim Taha, Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation ( OIC ) and His Highness Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Chairman of the Islamic Summit, addressed the gathering.

All of the speakers at the inaugural ceremony centered their keynotes on the necessity of bolstering member nations' solidarity and stepping up aid efforts for countries facing natural and humanitarian crises.

The IOFS Director General held several productive bilateral meetings on the first day of the 49th CFM, including one with H.E. Mr. Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi, State Minister for Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar, during which the two officials discussed preparations for the IOFS's 6th General Assembly, which will be held in Doha on the 2nd and 3rd of October 2023, another meeting with H.E. Mr. Khaled Khiari, UN Deputy Secretary-General for Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, to discuss opportunities of cooperation between the two institutions, Additionally, H.E. DG of IOFS met with H.E. Dr. Abdulrahman Hamid Mohamed Al-Hussain, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Iraq, and H.E. Mr. Fariz Fikrat oglu RZAYEV, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, with whom notes were exchanged about their respective countries' consideration of joining IOFS membership and the establishment of areas of mutual interest in agriculture development and food security.

The IOFS Delegation has also held other discussions with a number of OIC/IOFS member countries, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Republic of Guinea, Malaysia, and some sister OIC institutions, during which an evaluation of the current state of cooperation and strategies and options for fostering it have been examined and explored.

It should be mentioned that the IOFS delegation accompanying HEDG was made up of Amb. Daulet Yemberdiyev, Director of the Country Operations Department, and Mr. Sofian Meddeb,Advisor at the Cabinet.