OIC seeks $ 300 m aid to boost Palestine budget

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), has stressed the group’s unwavering support toward the Palestinian cause.
Speaking on the sidelines of the conference held yesterday in Baku, Azerbaijan to demonstrate the Islamic world’s support for Palestine, Ihsanoglu said, “Through this conference, we hope OIC member countries will contribute $ 300 million to help reduce the deficit in the Palestinian budget. We urge countries to assist toward paying this amount as direct aid to the Palestinian government, so that it can provide public services to the people of the West Bank and Gaza.”
Baku is hosting the founding conference of the Islamic Financial Security Network for the Palestinian state and a donor conference to support the development of Jerusalem city.
During the first conference, conference members discussed a study proposed on means of developing 12 sectors in Jerusalem at a cost of $ 499 million.
The development projects will cover a wide range of important sectors, including housing, education, health, infrastructure, agriculture, and the Islamic endowment institutions.
The member states’ ministers of foreign affairs also discussed means of impeding the latest provocation by the occupying forces, whereby a number of French companies earned contracts to run an Israeli tramway project to settlements in the Eastern Jerusalem.
The second conference regarding the financial safety net discussed the importance and role of the Islamic net as a supplementary financial mechanism to reduce the annual deficit in the Palestinian budget, estimated at $ 1.3 billion. The EU, Japan, and the US pledged $ 700 million annually, while the Arab League safety net pledged $ 300 million. Ihsanoglu denounced the policy of Israel toward Palestine and stressed the political will of the OIC member states toward enabling the Palestinian government to provide development programs for the benefit of its citizens.
The secretary-general highlighted that the main objective of the conference is draw attention to the fact that tens of thousands of Palestinian children have no access to education, the public health sector in the city is in a deplorable state, and the population of the city of Jerusalem faces problems with obtaining medical care.
Representatives of several international organizations, including the OIC, ISESCO, the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development, and the Islamic Development Bank, attended the conference. Representatives of the OIC member countries also attend the event: foreign ministers, officials of foreign offices as well as heads and members of diplomatic missions accredited in Baku.