Jeddah, Aug 10: The tragic situation in Syria, and the crisis in Myanmar caused by the persecution of the Muslim Rohingya people of the Arakan region will figure prominently in the extraordinary Islamic summit to be held in Makkah on August 14-15, Secretary-General of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu has announced.
 “All preparations and arrangements have been completed for the grand event to be held in the last days of the holy month of Ramadan,” he told Arab News.
 Ihsanoglu added that the summit would also consider the Palestinian cause and the Al-Quds (Jerusalem) issues, which were the two main factors behind the establishment of the OIC in 1969.
 Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has called for the convening of an Islamic solidarity summit to be held in Makkah on 26-27th of Ramadan to discuss various issues facing the Ummah and further augment cohesion and solidarity in the Muslim world.
 According to Ihsanoglu, meetings of senior officials and foreign ministries of the Islamic countries will precede the summit to finalize the agenda to be considered by the leaders.
 He said the summit would consider all issues of concern to the Islamic world and hoped that the summit would be of great success, especially since it was being held during the last days of Ramadan coinciding with Lailat Al-Qadr, when the Qur’an was revealed.
 “The Islamic leaders have a historic responsibility to make the Makkah summit a success, so as to ensure the Islamic world with security and stability,” he said.
 Ihsanoglu said the summit has combined the sanctity of both place and time, and added that it was being held at a crucial juncture for the Islamic world, which had been anxiously awaiting King Abdullah to come out with such an initiative.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 10 Aug 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 10 Aug 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 11 Aug 2012 00:00:00 IST