THE Foreign Affairs Ministry has announced that His Excellency Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), is visiting Guyana on May 28/29 with a five-member delegation which includes his wife, Mrs. Fusun Ihsanoglu.

The Secretary General will pay courtesy calls on His Excellency President Donald Ramotar; Hon Samuel Hinds, Prime Minister; and Honourable Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Guyana’s Foreign Minister, after which he will meet with representatives of the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG), and will have an interactive session with the Interfaith Community in Guyana.

At the meeting with the President, the Secretary General will be presented with a plaque in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the organisation during his tenure.

Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu of Turkey is the first democratically elected Secretary General of the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC). H.E Ihsanoglu was re-elected for a second term of office in 2008.
Ever since he took the office as the ninth Secretary General, in January 2005, he has taken serious steps to make the 57-member-state organisation a more effective body. H.E Ihsanoglu is known for his contributions to scholarly debates on intercultural dialogues, and with his institutional and personal initiatives, he has earned recognition at intellectual circles as a leading contributor to rapprochement between cultures, particularly between the Muslim and Western worlds.

Guyana was first granted observer status within the organisation on September 27, 1995, and became a member on October 1, 1998. Guyana and Suriname are the only two CARICOM countries which are members of the OIC.