Azerbaijan, OIC review outstanding bilateral relations

By Azernews

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan’s role in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation was praised at the meeting between Ali Hasanov and Yousef bin Al-Othaimeen.

Azerbaijan`s President's Assistant for Public and Political Affairs and Secretary General of the  OIC exchanged views on further development of cooperation and on issues of common interest between the two sides on February 7.

The development of cooperation between Muslim-majority Azerbaijan and the OIC is a prioritized direction in the country’s foreign policy and has a strategic importance. Since regaining its independence, Azerbaijan was the first among the CIS countries that appealed to become a member of the OIC and in 1991 joined the organization.

Hasanov conveyed greetings of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to Youssef bin al-Ottaimeen and presented an invitation of the President on participation in the Islamic Solidarity Games to the Secretary General, which will take place in Baku on May 12-24.

The Secretary General welcomed the invitation with great pleasure.

Hasanov highlighted Azerbaijan`s multicultural environment, adding representatives of all religious confessions lived in Azerbaijan in peace and stability across the centuries.

Saying that Azerbaijan is the bridge between East and West, the President’s assistant spoke about the close cooperation of Azerbaijan with the European Union.

Hasanov further  2017 was declared a “Year of Islamic Solidarity” in the country.

“Azerbaijan will host Islamic Solidarity Games. This sport event will give a push to strengthening the Islamic Solidarity in the world,” he added.

The Baku 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games is an exciting multi-sport event uniting the Islamic world, which will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan from 12 – 22 May 2017.

Athletes from Islamic countries around the world will be representing their nations over 10 days of competition across 20 different sports which include 24 disciplines.

Being the 4th in the edition, the Games will host as many as 57 Islamic countries, which is the record number of the participants in the history of the event.

The Assistant highlighted that a conference of the Journalists Association of OIC Member States was held in Baku.

Secretary General Youssef bin Al-Othaimeen thanked President Aliyev’s comprehensive support to the Organization`s activity in the field of protecting interests of the Islamic world and solving its problems.