Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali, arrived in the Kazakh capital Sunday to participate in the 38th Organistion of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Foreign Minister’s Meeting. Irfaan Ali was a member of President Jagdeo delegation to Kuwait, Iran and the UAE in 2010.
In Astana today, the OIC dropped “Conference” in preference to “Cooperation” and unveiled a new emblem. It will now be called the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.  “The key word is cooperation,” OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu told delegates. “We need to focus on avenues of cooperation among OIC countries and the world bodies at large.”
The OIC adopted a new charter which Mr. Ali signed on behalf of Guyana. The meeting also adopted the recommendation of the Senior Officials who recently met in Jeddah to finalize the criteria for new membership and observer-membership.  Informed sources also pointed out that the new rules will allow numerous countries from around the globe, which have lodged applications for membership and observer status, to become observers.
The latest official request for observer status came from Brazil.
The rules make it mandatory for countries to have a Muslim majority and be a member of the United Nations before they could become members.

The issue of Palestinian statehood being brought to the United Nations General Assembly this September will also dominate the Astana meeting. Guyana,since 1975, has been a member of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, and the Palestinian leadership in East Jerusalem is banking on Guyana and Suriname to lobby CARICOM members to solidly support their bid for statehood.
High on the agenda of the 38th OIC CFM meeting is the establishment of an OIC human rights commission.
Kazakhstan will take over the presidency of the OIC, a 57-member grouping of nations from Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America.