Iran's nuclear issue and the deteriorating situation in Palestine will top the agenda of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) foreign ministers meeting.

The OIC ministers' 33rd session started in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, today.

The cartoon row and Islamophobia will also figure in the three-day event which will discuss a number of issues concerning the 57-member countries, according to a press statement issued by the Jeddah-based OIC general secretariat.

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev inaugurated the conference.

At his speech at the inaugural session, Prof Ekmel Al Deen Ehsanoglu, secretary-general of OIC, highlighted the stand of the OIC towards the current issues affecting the Muslim world and various efforts being made by the general secretariat to implement the OIC Ten-Year Programme of Action, the statement said.

The Baku session has a special significance as it is the first meeting to be held at such a level after the third extraordinary Islamic Summit Conference held in Makkah in December 2005.

The Makkah summit, which adopted the Ten-Year Programme of Action, is considered a turning point in the history of the OIC, the statement said.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Atta Al Mannan Al Bakhit, assistant secretary-general for international affairs, told Gulf News that the foreign ministers will look in to the resolutions and recommendations drafted by senior OIC officials at the preparatory meeting for the Baku session held in Jeddah early last month.

The Jeddah meeting drafted most of the political decisions to be taken by the conference after taking stock of the political situation in the Muslim world. The issues of cooperation between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency will also be discussed.

According to Al Bakhit, the foreign ministers will discuss most of the political issues, such as escalation of Israeli aggression on Palestine, the current situation in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan and Cyprus in addition to the situation of Muslim minorities in non-Muslim countries, especially in Thailand and southern Philippines. "Peace accord was signed in southern Philippines under the auspices of OIC 10 years ago. But unfortunately, serious problems still persist and the conference will hold an elaborate discussion."

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