Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri on Monday stressed Egypt’s support for the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation and for strengthening the role it plays in defending the interests and priorities of the Muslim world.
The foreign minister’s remarks came during his meeting on Monday with the ambassadors of the member states of the organisation, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said.
The meeting came in pursuance of Egypt’s keenness to communicate with the member states of the organisation, strengthen co-operation relations with them and explain positions on issues of concern to the Islamic world, Spokesman Abu Zeid said.
The minister also stressed that, based on Egypt’s firm conviction of the pivotal role played by the organisation in addressing the great challenges facing the member-states, Egypt has been calling for years for supporting and developing the organisation’s work mechanisms to keep pace with contemporary considerations.
Such a call, Minister Shoukri explained, aims to enable the OIC to reflect its international status and help its decisions have an impact on the international arena since the OIC represents the interests of the peoples of the Islamic world, the spokesman said.
Minister Shoukri called on the member states of the organisation to benefit from the functions of the Cairo International Centre for Conflict Resolution, Peacekeeping and Peace-building in promoting international and regional peace and security.
In this connection, Minister Shoukri referred to the Cairo Centre’s potentials in building the capacities of states to support co-operation in the areas of peacekeeping and peace-building, conflict settlement, dialogue, negotiation and mediation.
He also stressed the need to adopt a comprehensive approach in addressing the roots and causes of terrorism and extremism, pointing to the important role played by Al-Azhar and the Al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism in refuting terrorist and extremist discourse and promoting moderate thought that is consistent with the true religion.
In his remarks during the meeting, the Egyptian top diplomat also addressed the recent exacerbation of the phenomenon of Islamophobia and the discrimination that Muslims face in the West, including the freedom of opinion and freedom of expression, which leads to a violent reaction accusing the Muslim world of terrorism.
Therefore, concrete and urgent measures must be taken to combat such anti-Islamic practices, which seriously threaten the rights of Muslim minorities in European countries and may lead to gross violations of human rights, the foreign minister said.
For their part, a number of the ambassadors praised the great interest that the Egyptian government attaches to preserving the Islamic heritage and defending the Islamic world’s causes, noting in this regard the leading and pioneering role undertaken by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, Spokesman Abu Zeid said.
The ambassadors of OIC member-states also praised the inauguration of Egypt’s Grand Mosque in the New Administrative Capital, hailing this edifice as a modern Islamic intellectual and cultural beacon, the Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
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