JEDDAH, 13 December 2006 — Setting up of a major data center on environment in Saudi Arabia and establishment of an environment network will figure high on the agenda of a two-day conference of Islamic environment ministers that begins here today.
“This conference will be a turning point in joint environmental work of Muslim countries,” said Prince Turki ibn Nasser, head of the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME). He hoped the conference would come out with important resolutions.
Ministers and other delegates from the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) have started arriving for the event, which will be held at Conference Palace in Jeddah. The conference is organized by PME in association with the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO).
“Saudi Arabia’s hosting of the conference reflects its concern toward major development issues in the Arab and Islamic world and the importance it has given to environmental issues. We want to address environment issues with an Islamic perspective,” Prince Turki said.
Apart from OIC ministers of environment, a large number of experts and scholars as well as representatives of regional and international organizations will take part in the conference, which will examine prospects of establishing an environment information center in the Kingdom, an Islamic environment network and a specialized Islamic organization for environment.
The conference will review a number of reports highlighting ISESCO’s efforts to protect environment, promote health and education and ensure sustained development as well as programs for management of natural disasters in Islamic countries.
The ministers will also discuss proposals in the field of water resources management; environment protection, health and population education, and renewable energy. It is expected to issue a document titled “The Jeddah Declaration on Sustainable Development”.
This is the second conference of OIC environment ministers. The first conference, which was also hosted by the Kingdom, gave an Islamic vision on sustained development. Fifty ministers and more than 200 scientists and experts attended the last conference.
“ISESCO has successfully undertaken its responsibility of mobilizing the Islamic world to take part in the international anti-pollution campaign led by the United Nations to protect the environment and lay the basic foundation for a sustainable development for the benefit of generations to come,” said its Director General Abdul Aziz Al-Tuwaijeri.
