JEDDAH, 4 April 2005 — OIC ministers of sports and youth welfare began a two-day conference here yesterday with a call for setting out a comprehensive strategy to promote youth and sports activities in the member countries.
Prince Sultan ibn Fahd, chief of the Youth Welfare Presidency and chairman of the Sports Federation for Islamic Solidarity, opened the event at the Conference Palace highlighting the importance of joint Islamic work.
“This conference will work out joint plans in the service of youth in the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) countries,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted the prince as saying.
Prince Sultan said the conference coincided with the opening of the first Islamic Games in the Kingdom. “Islamic Games have become a reality after our youth have been cherishing the dream for long,” he said and commended the role played by the late Prince Faisal ibn Fahd in this respect.
In his address OIC Secretary-General Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu urged the ministers to support the Islamic sports federation’s efforts to set out a comprehensive strategy for youth and sports work and open new vistas of cooperation among youth in the member states by conducting joint sports and youth programs.
He said the Islamic Solidarity Games, which are to start in Jeddah, Taif, Makkah and Madinah on April 8 with the participation of athletes from 55 member states.
The conference condemned the terrorist attack on the Samarra Malwiya Tower in Iraq, one of the most important Islamic archaeological monuments established by Abbasid Caliph Al-Muetassim about 1,200 years ago. It also called upon the international community to protect Islamic sanctuaries and archaeological sites in the country.
