President Rouhani Leaves for Istanbul to Attend OIC Summit
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani headed for Turkey on Wednesday afternoon to attend the 13th summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
The president left Tehran for Istanbul at the head of a high-ranking delegation.
Rouhani is scheduled to address the summit, which will kick off on Thursday.
He will also hold talks with leaders of Muslim countries on the sidelines of the two-day event.
On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif arrived in the Turkish city of Istanbul to take part in the ministerial meeting of the OIC.
This year’s OIC Summit started with expert-level sessions, which were held on Sunday and Monday. A high-ranking Iranian delegation headed by Iran’s deputy foreign minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi took part in the sessions to discuss the upcoming meetings’ agenda.
Based on previous announcements, more than 30 leaders and heads of states will partake in the OIC Summit on Thursday and Friday.
The Summit is held once in every three years. The previous summit was hosted by Egypt in 2013. The permanent Secretariat is located in Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah.
The OIC is the second largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations and has membership of 57 states spread over four continents.
The Organization is the collective voice of the Muslim world and ensuring to safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony among various people of the world.
The Organization was established upon a decision of the historical summit which took place in Rabat, Kingdom of Morocco on 25 September 1969 as a result of criminal arson of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied al-Quds (Jerusalem).
