OIC Press Release

The Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Dr. Abdelouahed Belkeziz, stressed the growing importance of modern information thanks to the remarkable revolution in communication technology which has given information an increasingly important role in steering events, policies, and cultures in an unprecedented manner.

In his speech at the inauguration of the Seventh Session of the Standing Committee for Information and Cultural Affairs (COMIAC), which opened its proceedings on Wednesday 14 Shawwal 1423II (18 December 2002) in Dakar, Republic of Senegal, under the auspices of H.E. Abdoulaye Wade, President of the Republic of Senegal and Chairman of the Committee, H.E. the Secretary General emphasized that globalization has played a prominent role in enabling mass and communication media to achieve political, ideological, and cultural ends at a global level and eventually to impose certain concepts or to wage war on certain others.

Many countries have thus become targets of a "cultural invasion" for which huge technical resources have been mobilized. In this connection, Dr. Belkeziz has deplored the Islamic media's failure to rectify the distorted image of Islam being propagated by some Western media circles, which consider Islam an enemy of Western civilization. This has resulted in immense prejudice against Muslims and Muslim countries, thus negatively impacting on their political, economic, and cultural interests.

In the face of such a woeful situation, the Secretary General has urged Muslim countries not only to seek to improve Islam's image in the West and elsewhere but also to assert the cultural identity of Muslim communities so as to create an Islamic culture that promotes Islamic authenticity, and helps boost the Ummah's self-confidence, pride in its religion, and dignity.

Concerning the promotion of Islamic culture, Dr. Abdelouahed BELKEZIZ, indicated that the Cultural Strategy for the Islamic World contains the Islamic unwavering stance towards global cultural trends and illustrates the characteristics, requirements and methods of Islamic cultural promotion. His Excellency also spelled out the OIC's ongoing efforts to implement the resolutions of the Sixth Session of COMIAC, especially those pertaining to dialogue among civilizations, to women, youth and children. He stated that these issues are of the utmost importance to the OIC because they affect Muslim communities directly.

His Excellency Abdoulaye Wade, President of the Republic of Senegal and Chairman of COMIAC, then declared the Seventh Session of COMIAC open with an all-embracing speech in which he welcomed the heads and members of delegations to the meeting. He underscored the crucial role of the media and other means of communication in shaping public opinion on any issue intended for dissemination. His Excellency referred to the smear campaigns being successfully mounted by the Western media against Islam in an attempt to tarnish its image and undermine Muslim's interests worldwide. In this regard, the President of Senegal called on Muslims to refute such unfounded allegations through persuasion and compelling arguments, not through violence which is rejected by Islam. This require the mobilization of our media institutions and the rehabilitation of human resources working in the media in order to propagate the lofty ideals and values of Islam and highlight Islam's tolerant nature as well as its culture and civilization.

His Excellency President Abdoulaye Wade urged OIC Member States to strengthen their cooperation in this area and generously provide financial support to the Information Plan for Muslim States and the Islamic Program for the Development of Information and Communication (PIDIC). He also stressed the need to modernize and develop the Islamic information organs, which may help bridge the huge divide between the Islamic world and the technologically developed countries.

In conclusion, H.E. the President of Senegal requested that the meeting of the Standing Committee for Information and Cultural Affairs (COMIAC) be held every three years instead of two with a view to allowing Member States adequate opportunity to implement the committee's resolutions. He also invited the Meeting to set up a follow-up body which would meet between every two sessions of COMIAC to assess progress on the implementation of resolutions.

His speech was followed by the first working session of this COMIAC meeting at the start of which members of the Bureau were elected with Senegal as Chairman. The Bureau was also composed of the following members: the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Republic of Tunisia and the State of Palestine as vice-chairmen. It was decided that the Islamic Republic of Iran be elected Rapporteur of the Meeting.

The participants then started discussing the agenda which comprised several media, cultural and social issues, chief among which were the proposals of the Brainstorming Committees regarding new information technologies, their assimilation into the media, the participation of OIC Member States in the World Summit Conference on the Information Society as well as cultural and general social issues.