The Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Dr. Yousef Al-Othaimeen has reiterated that the security, stability and development of the Lake Chad Region remains a top priority for the Organization.
In a statement to the High-level Conference on the Lake Chad Region, jointly organized by the Governments of Germany, Nigeria, Norway and the United Nations, held on 3 September 2018, in Berlin Germany, Dr. Al-Othaimeen stressed that the OIC has always been preoccupied by the important developments in the region as well as the numerous challenges that the States of the region strive to meet, which cover such diverse areas as development, security, the fight against terrorism and climate change.
“Indeed, in the past years, the OIC organized joint high-level meetings with the UN on the humanitarian situation in the Lake Chad Basin. It received and sent high-level delegations from and to International Organizations, and visited the countries of the region to assess the situation and examine ways and means to assist the people of the region,” said Al-Othaimeen in the speech delivered on his behalf by the OIC Permanent Observer in Brussels Amb. Ismat Jahan.
“Consequently, the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), a specialized institution of the OIC, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Lake Chad Basin Commission to restore the depleted Lake. Already, the IsDB is engaged in the seven Lake Chad Basin countries to the tune of US$ 9 billion, half of which is in the areas of economic and social infrastructure and private sector development,” he added.
A resolution adopted by the last Council of the Foreign Ministers of the OIC held in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in May 2018, requested the Member States and relevant institutions to extend all necessary humanitarian and financial assistance to the refugees and internally displaced persons, including capacity building as well as the development of countries of the Lake Chad Region, affected by Boko Haram violence, to compliment the assistance being extended by the international partners.
