Pakistan to host next Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting on March 22

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi addresses the opening of a special meeting of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Islamabad, Pakistan, on December 19, 2021. (AFP/File)
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Updated 07 January 2022
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Pakistan to host next Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting on March 22

  • OIC Foreign Ministers Council will attend Pakistan Day parade on March 23
  • Pakistan hosted a special Afghanistan-focused session of the OIC last month

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Thursday the next meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) would be held on March 22 in Islamabad.
He was addressing a high tea event organized in honor of the ambassadors of Muslim countries by Special Aide to Prime Minister on Religious Harmony and Middle East, Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi. Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Pakistan Nawaf Saeed Al-Maliki represented the OIC at the event. 
“We will celebrate our 75th Pakistan Day with our brothers and the OIC Foreign Ministers Council will attend the March 23 parade as guest,” Qureshi was quoted by The News as saying. 




Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi (2R) addresses a high tea event organized in honor of the ambassadors of Muslim countries in Islamabad, Pakistan, on January 7, 2022. (APP)

On December 19, Pakistan hosted the 17th Extraordinary Session of the Organization of Islamic Corporation’s Council of Foreign Ministers. The focus of the summit was the looming economic and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. Around 70 delegations from OIC member states, non-members and regional and international organizations attended the summit in Islamabad. Around 20 delegations were led by foreign ministers and 10 by deputies or ministers of state.
Other than foreign ministers from Islamic countries, delegations from the European Union and the P5+1 group of the UN Security Council, including the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany, were also in attendance.
At the conclusion of the summit, OIC members states agreed to establish a Humanitarian Trust Fund to channel assistance to Afghanistan, appoint a special envoy and work together with the UN in the war-ravaged country. 


Pakistan, seven Muslim nations back Palestinian technocratic body, stress Gaza-West Bank unity

Updated 15 January 2026
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Pakistan, seven Muslim nations back Palestinian technocratic body, stress Gaza-West Bank unity

  • The National Committee for the Administration of the Gaza Strip was announced on January 14
  • Muslim nations call for consolidation of the ceasefire and unimpeded humanitarian aid into Gaza

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and seven other Muslim-majority countries on Thursday welcomed the formation of a temporary Palestinian technocratic body to administer Gaza, stressing that it must manage daily civilian affairs while preserving the institutional and territorial link between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank amid the ongoing peace efforts.

In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Türkiye, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates said the newly announced National Committee for the Administration of the Gaza Strip would play a central role during the second phase of a broader peace plan aimed at ending the war and paving the way for Palestinian self-governance.

“The Ministers emphasize the importance of the National Committee commencing its duties in managing the day-to-day affairs of the people of Gaza, while preserving the institutional and territorial link between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, ensuring the unity of Gaza, and rejecting any attempts to divide it,” the statement said.

The committee, announced on Jan. 14, is a temporary transitional body established under United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803 and is to operate in coordination with the Palestinian Authority, the ministers said.

The statement said the move forms part of the second phase of US President Donald Trump’s Comprehensive Peace Plan for Gaza, which the ministers said they supported, praising Trump’s efforts to end the war, ensure the withdrawal of Israeli forces and prevent the annexation of the occupied West Bank.

The top leaders of all eight Muslim countries attended a meeting with Trump in New York last September, shortly before he unveiled the Gaza peace plan.

The ministers also called for the consolidation of the ceasefire, unimpeded humanitarian aid into Gaza, early recovery and reconstruction and the eventual return of the Palestinian Authority to administer the territory, leading to a just and sustainable peace based on UN resolutions and a two-state solution on pre-1967 lines with East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.