Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz urged members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to expand trade and support Palestine, reiterating a 25% intra-bloc trade target, Anadolu Agency reported Tuesday.
The closing session of COMCEC's 42nd ministerial meeting took place at Istanbul Congress Center under Yilmaz's chairmanship, Anadolu Agency reported.
He reiterated the OIC's goal of raising trade within the bloc to 25% and called for wider participation in the Trade Preferential System among member states. He said adding services, investment, digital trade and trade facilitation to the mechanism would accelerate cooperation.
The Al-Quds Program had completed 28 projects for Palestinians before launching 10 more this year, Yilmaz said. He also noted that COMCEC's Syria Program began implementation this year with five active projects aimed at building human and institutional capacity and reviving economic activity.
Yilmaz said this year's ministerial exchange session focused on trade-finance tools to boost exports, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. Discussions included export credits, guarantees and insurance, supply-chain finance, Islamic finance instruments and digital solutions. He said those discussions would help lay the groundwork for new partnerships.
Yilmaz called for stronger institutional support for the OIC Arbitration Center, saying it would help resolve commercial and investment disputes quickly and fairly. He also urged members to put the Islamic Forum for Halal Accreditation Bodies into operation using standards from the Standards and Metrology Institute for Islamic Countries. He said mutual recognition of halal certificates could remove trade barriers.
Separately, Yilmaz said 31 projects were underway this year through COMCEC's Project Financing mechanism, spanning education, technical cooperation, digital capacity and institutional development. The program has supported 209 projects since 2013, with all OIC member states participating, he said.
On Palestine, Yilmaz said the Netanyahu administration continued what he called massacres despite a ceasefire and obstructed humanitarian aid. He also pointed to a failure to advance the truce to its next phase. He said next year's ministerial exchange session would focus on using Islamic finance to support food security.
