Islamic Parliamentary Union calls for stronger economic cooperation
Regional, Economics, 7/5/2000

Participants in the second session of the Islamic Parliamentary Union ISPU in cairo called for stronger inter-Islamic cooperation.

A working paper stressed the huge economic potentials of the Islamic countries. It called for facing up to the negative effects of the World Trade Organization (WTO)'s agreements and the consequences of globalization in order to upgrade the social and economic development rates of the Islamic countries.

It added that the success of the Islamic countries in their economic reform programs provides an appropriate ground for launching economic cooperation policies that will help step up trade exchange and joint investments.

The draft final Communique of the Islamic Parliamentary Union Council of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) member-states Tuesday condemned Israel's decision to annex Jerusalem, and its continued practices aimed at changing the demographic and geographic nature of the city.

The draft communique, issued by the Islamic Parliamentary Union (ISPU) urged all Islamic countries and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOS) to offer aid to Jerusalem fund in order to help preserve the Arab entity of the holy city.

President of Al Azhar University Dr. Ahmed Omar Hashem has stressed, during ISPU meeting earlier in the day, the importance of putting an end to the establishment of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories and the continued Israeli attempts to Judaizing the city of Jerusalem.

He also called on all Islamic countries to unify efforts in order to face up to the challenges besetting the Islamic world.

The Communique lashed out at the obstacles created by Israel on the road of realizing peace in the MiddleEast region, posing, as flagrant violation of international legitimacy, the resolutions and the UN Land-For-Peace Principle.

It stressed the Palestinians' right to regain all their legitimate rights including the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital, and the right of all Palestinian refugees to return in accordance to the relevant UN resolutions and Madrid terms of reference.

The communique called on the United Nations, international community and sponsors of peace process to press on Israel in order to force it to abide by the international legitimacy resolutions and implement all agreements signed with the Palestinian side.

It called for clearing the Middle East region from all weapons of mass destruction (WMD) especially the nuclear ones.

It demanded Israel to withdraw its forces from the remaining Lebanese outposts.

On Inter-Islamic economic cooperation, the draft communique called for improving the living conditions of developing countries and creating job opportunities.

It stressed that economic integration between Arab and Islamic counties is a must in order to accelerate the implementation of economic and social development.

The communique called for setting up a joint Islamic market and the removal of all customs duties between the Islamic countries.

It appealed to world governments to activate joint frameworks for the dialogue among cultures in order to help further ties of cooperation between them.

It stressed the importance of putting UN resolutions on declaring 2001 as year of dialogue into action.

The draft called on Iran to hold direct negotiations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in order to settle the issues of the disputed three islands.

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