OIC Labor Center to appear in Baku

By Azernews

By Nigar Abbasova

Azerbaijan, which achieved a huge success in decreasing of the unemployment rate over the past decade, continues expanding its international cooperation in this direction.

The OIC Council of Foreign Ministers has recently confirmed establishment of the Labor Center of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Baku. The initiative to open such a center was put forward by Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and unanimously supported by the OIC states.

President Ilham Aliyev voiced the proposal at the Second Session of the Islamic Conference of Labor Ministers (ICLM) held in Baku in April 2013. Then, the president said great work had been done in Azerbaijan to eradicate poverty and unemployment, adding that founding the Employment Center of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation in Baku would strengthen unity among Islamic countries.

The OIC Labor Center will be mainly engaged in the efforts to solve issues of employment, ensure social protection of citizens, and coordination of work in this sphere.

The development of cooperation between Azerbaijan and the OIC has a strategic importance and is considered to be a prioritized direction in the foreign policy of the country.

Azerbaijan joined the organization in 1991 and was the fisrt country in the CIS to apeal for the OIC membership.

The OIC was founded at the conference of heads of Muslim countries in Rabat September 25, 1969 to ensure Islamic solidarity in social, economic and political spheres.

Being one of the influential institutions in the world for the number of members OIC brings together 57 countries with a population of about 1.5 billion people.