Islamic state leaders converge in Istanbul for economic summit

Leaders from Islamic state under the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) have converged in Istanbul to attend the economy summit of OIC's Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation Monday.

However, Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir cancelled his scheduled visit to Turkey and told his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul on the phone that he would not be able to come to Istanbul to attend the meeting.

The OIC Economy Summit will be held at Istanbul's Four Seasons Hotel on November 9 to mark the 25th anniversary of the committee.

Heads of state and government will be in attendance at the summit which is expected to focus on activities of the committee in the last 25 years.

They include Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Kyrgyzstan President Murmanbek Bakiev, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, Syrian President Bashar al-Asad, Guinea-Bissau President Raimundo Bacai Sanha, and Jordanian Prime Minister Nader al-Dahabi.

The Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation was established during the Third Islamic Summit Conference held in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, in 1981. It became operational at the Fourth Islamic Summit in 1984 with the election of the president of Turkey as its chairman.

The committee aims at developing economic and commercial cooperation among the member states. It has 57 member states and three observer members.

Source: Xinhua