Within the framework of its Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, SESRIC organised an Online Training Course on ‘SDG 3 Indicators’ for the benefit of the Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBOS) on 28-30 December 2020.

SESRIC, in collaboration with the General Directorate of Disability and Elderly Services of the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services of Republic of Turkey, organised a Webinar on “The Impact of COVID-19 on Elderly People and Persons with Disabilities in the OIC Member States” on 23 December 2020 at 11:00-12:30 (GMT+3). The event was livestreamed and recorded on SESRIC’s YouTube Channel which is reachable through the following link: https://bit.ly/sesric-live

Within its recently initiated Webinar Series on Statistical Experience Sharing, SESRIC organised its fifth webinar on “Survey on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Usage in Enterprises” on 17 December 2020 in collaboration with the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) with the participation of 35 attendees from 17 OIC member countries (Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brunei, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Morocco, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Suriname, Tunisia, Turkey, and Uzbekistan).

Within the framework of its Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, SESRIC organised an Online Training Course on ‘Tourism Statistics’ for the benefit of the Central Statistical Organization (CSO) of Iraq on 13-15 December 2020. 34 experts from the NSOs of 11 OIC countries in the OIC-Arab group including Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen participated in the online training course.

Within its recently initiated Webinar Series on Statistical Experience Sharing, SESRIC organised its fourth webinar titled “Survey on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Usage in Households and Individuals” on 10 December 2020 in collaboration with the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) with the participation of 34 attendees from 17 OIC member countries (Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mozambique, Pakistan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Togo, Turkey, and Uzbekistan).

Within its recently initiated Webinar Series on Statistical Experience Sharing, SESRIC organised its third webinar titled “Tobacco Questions for Surveys (TQS) and Tobacco Questions for Surveys of Youth (TQS-Youth)” on 9 December 2020 in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and CDC Foundation with the participation of 47 attendees from 19 OIC member countries (Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Benin, Egypt, Gabon, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Togo, Turkey, and UAE).

Within the framework of its Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, SESRIC organised on 8-9 December 2020 an Online Training Course on ‘Living Conditions and Poverty Statistics’ for the benefit of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

Within the framework of its Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, SESRIC organised an online training course on ‘SDG 5 Indicators’ for the benefit of the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) of Kuwait on 08-10 December 2020.

Within the framework of SESRIC’s Poverty Alleviation Capacity Building Programme (PA-CaB), the Centre organized a training course on “Monitoring and Evaluation of the National Development Plans and Projects” on 7-10 December 2020 for the benefit of the staff of the Ministry of Planning, Investment and Economic Development (MoPIED) of the Federal Republic of Somalia. The course was conducted through a video conferencing platform by following synchronous learning and instruction approaches.

The 3^rd General Assembly of IOFS was held virtually online and technically hosted by the Republic of Turkey on December 2-3, 2020 with the theme of “Building up Food Security Resilience within the OIC Region.” The meeting covered the following agenda items: Membership, Administrative, Financial Matters; OIC Plan of Action on Development of Strategic Commodities; Establishment of the OIC Food Security Reserve: Establishment of the Islamic Food Processing Association; Food Security Governance ; IOFS Programmes on Science, Technology and Innovation; Agri-Food Trade and Investment Promotion; Food Humanitarian Programmes; Enhancement of IOFS Food Balance Database; Any Other Business and Date and Venue of 4^th General Assembly.

Within the framework of its Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, SESRIC organised an online training course on ‘Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Statistics’ for the benefit of the National Institute of Statistics (INS) of Cote d'Ivoire on 30 November – 04 December 2020.

Within the framework of SESRIC’s Environment Capacity Building Programme (Environment-CaB), the Centre, in collaboration with the Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (PERSGA), organized a virtual training workshop on “Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)” on 30 November - 03 December 2020.

SESRIC is organizing the Graduation Ceremony of the NAMA II competition under the BINA Program, which is a partnership program between of the Libyan Program for Reintegration and Development (LPRD), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and SESRIC, where SESRIC is assuming the role of the Executive Agency.

Within its recently initiated Webinar Series on Statistical Experience Sharing, SESRIC organised its second webinar titled “Enhancing Food Security in OIC Countries: An Overview of the Food Balance Sheets” on 24 November 2020 in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) with the participation of 44 attendees from 19 OIC member countries (Azerbaijan, Brunei, Egypt, Gabon, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Morocco, Pakistan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Suriname, Turkey, UAE, Uzbekistan, and Yemen) and two international organisations (Islamic Organization for Food Security (IOFS) and Economic Cooperation Organization Regional Coordination Centre for Food Security (ECO-RCC)).

Within the framework of its Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, SESRIC organised an online training course on ‘Banking, Insurance and Financial Statistics’ for the benefit of the Department of Economic Planning and Statistics (JPES) under the Ministry of Finance and Economy of Brunei on 17-19 November 2020.

SESRIC and the General Secretariat of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) jointly organised a training session on “Content Management and Use of the OIC Health Portal” on 12 November 2020 through an online video conferencing platform. The training session was conducted within the framework of the resolution No. 1/7-ICHM/4 of the 7th Session of the Islamic Conference of Health Ministers.

Within its recently initiated Webinar Series on Statistical Experience Sharing, SESRIC organised its first webinar titled “Collection & Dissemination of SDGs Indicators: Experience of Uzbekistan” on 12 November 2020 in collaboration with the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Statistics (UzStat) with the participation of representatives of the National Statistical Offices of Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan.

The 8^th Meeting of the OIC/COMCEC Private Sector Tourism Forum was held on 11 November 2020 virtually under the theme of “Al-Quds Al Sharif: A Special Destination”. The event brought together relevant OIC Institutions and representatives of public and private sector from the OIC Member States to exchange ideas, experiences and identify means of cooperation on how to promote tourism in Al-Quds Al Sharif and unleash its potentials as a special destination.

Within the framework of SESRIC’s Tourism Capacity Building Programme (Tourism-CaB), SESRIC organized a training course on “Tourism Development” on 09-13 November 2020 for the benefit of experts and executives from the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Tourism Development and Silk Road International University of Tourism in Uzbekistan.

SESRIC organized two virtual brainstorming sessions on Reforming Public Administration in Libya on 09-10 November 2020 to exchange views on the major issues and challenges affecting the effective functioning of the current system and explore alternative approaches on how to reform it.

The Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) and Bank Indonesia in cooperation with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) jointly organized a virtual International Forum on ‘Islamic Economic Digitalization and Inclusion: Policy Development and Implementation in the OIC Countries’ on 29 October 2020.

SESRIC attended the Virtual Training Workshop on WTO Agricultural Negotiations and Their Impact on Trade of Agricultural Products among the OIC Member States which was organized by the Islamic Centre for Development of Trade (ICDT) and Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) on 26-28 October 2020.

Within the framework of SESRIC’s Water Resources Management Capacity Building Programme (Water-CaB) and the Resolution No. 3/46-E (Part B) on Replenishing of Lake Chad adopted by the 46^th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the OIC, SESRIC and the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) jointly organized a Training Workshop on “Water Governance and Integrated Water Management” on 19-22 October 2020 for the benefit of the national water resource institutions of the Lake Chad Basin countries through an online video conference platform.

Within the framework of its Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, SESRIC organised an Online Training Course on ‘SDG 13 (Climate Action) Indicators’ on 19-22 October 2020 for the benefit of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) of Egypt. Besides Egypt, experts from the NSOs of 6 OIC countries including Algeria, Iraq, Morocco, Oman, Palestine and UAE took part in the online training course.

SESRIC participated in the 21^st ASEAN-Occupational Safety and Health Network (ASEAN-OSHNET) Coordinating Board Meeting (CBM), which was hosted by the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare of Lao People's Democratic Republic on 15 October 2020.

Within the framework of SESRIC’s Water Resources Management Capacity Building Programme (Water-CaB), SESRIC organized a training course on “Integrated Water Resources Management” on 12-16 October 2020 for the benefit of participants from the Ministry of Water and Irrigation of Jordan.

The 4^th Meeting of the OIC Occupational Safety and Health Network (OIC-OSHNET) was jointly organized by SESRIC, in its capacity as the OIC Technical Coordinator of OIC-OSHNET, and the Directorate General of Occupational Safety and Health (DGOSH) of the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services of the Republic of Turkey, in its capacity as the Secretariat of the OIC-OSHNET. The Meeting was conducted through a video conferencing platform on 07-08 October 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The virtual meeting of the OIC-COMCEC Central Banks Forum was organized by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey on 07 October 2020 under the theme of ‘Recovering Our Economies in Times of Covid-19’. The meeting brought together Governors of the Central Banks and high level policy makers from OIC member countries to discuss the current global and OIC economic outlook and policy measures that were taken to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic; and also to evaluate the post-pandemic challenges and opportunities for the OIC member countries.

SESRIC attended the 11^th Meeting of the International Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD) Task Force which was organized online by the Development Co-operation Directorate (DCD) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on 6-9 October 2020.

Within the framework of SESRIC’s Competition Authorities Capacity Building Programme (CA-CaB), the Centre organized a training course on “Competition Law and Policy” on 05-09 October 2020 for the benefit of participants from the Tunisian Competition Council.

SESRIC, in its capacity as the Secretariat of the OIC Statistical Commission (OIC-StatCom), organised the 9th Session of the OIC-StatCom on 28 September – 1 October 2020 in collaboration with Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group through a video-conferencing platform due to the current COVID-19 outbreak. 95 participants from NSOs of 39 OIC countries joined the 9^th Session of OIC-StatCom. Representatives of 9 international and regional organizations, namely Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) General Secretariat, Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group, Islamic Organisation for Food Security (IOFS), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI), Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21^st Century (PARIS21), Statistical Centre for the Cooperation Council for the Arab Countries of the Gulf (GCC-Stat), United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UNESCWA), and United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) also attended and participated in the Session.

SESRIC participated in the Virtual Meeting of the Subgroup on Gender Statistics Training (SGGST) organised by the UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific on 22 September 2020. Representatives from BPS-Statistics Indonesia, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), School of Data Kyrgyzstan, Hongkong Baptist University, Philipine Statistical Research and Training Institute (PSRTI), UN Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP), and UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) also took part in the said virtual meeting.

Considering the importance of “Public Audit” to OIC member countries, SESRIC has initiated and launched last year a new capacity building programme in this important domain called “SESRIC Public Audit Capacity Building Programme (PAU-CaB)”. The Programme aims at providing a framework of cooperation and strengthening collaboration between relevant national institutions of the OIC member countries responsible for public audit with a view to enhancing their technical capacities.

SESRIC and UNOSSC launched the joint report on ‘South-South in Action: Transforming Potentials into Shared Prosperity’ during a side event of the United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation, on 15 September 2020 at 04:00 pm-5:30 pm Istanbul time (GMT +3).

SESRIC organized in partnership with the Diplomacy Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey a Training Course on “Digital Diplomacy for the OIC Junior Diplomats” on 14-17 September 2020 through a video conferencing platform. The training course was attended by 81 young diplomats from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of 29 OIC member countries.

SESRIC participated in the capacity building programme on ‘Young Women Entrepreneurs as Drivers of SDGs’, which was jointly organized by the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum (ICYF) and the Investment and Technology Promotion Office of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain on 14-17 September 2020. The program was attended by experts from OIC member countries, OIC institutions and international organizations. The Centre was represented thereat by Dr. Cem Tintin, Senior Researcher and Ms. Tazeen Qureshi, Assistant Researcher.

SESRIC attended the Inaugural Meeting of the Inter Secretariat Working Group on National Accounts (ISWGNA) / Committee on Balance of Payments Statistics (BOPCOM) Joint Task Team on Islamic Finance (IFTT) held on 10 September 2020.

SESRIC participated in the 36^th Session of the Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities (CCSA) held virtually on 10-11 September 2020. Dr. Atilla Karaman, Director of Statistics and Information of SESRIC, and Ms. Nenden Octavarulia Shanty, Researcher, represented SESRIC in the session.

Within the framework of SESRIC’s Water Resources Management Capacity Building Programme (Water-CaB), SESRIC organized a training course on “Water Saving and Management in Agriculture Sector” on 24-28 August 2020, for the benefit of 40 experts from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Republic of Benin. The course was conducted through a video conferencing platform by following synchronous learning and instruction approaches.

Within the framework of the SESRIC’s OIC Tourism Capacity Building Programme (Tr-CaB) and in line with COMCEC Ministerial Policy Recommendations, SESRIC organized a training course on “Developing Multi Destination Tourism Corridors” on 23-27 August 2020 for the benefit of 20 experts and executives from the National Tourism Council of the State of Qatar, Discover Qatar and Doha Bus. The course was conducted through a video conferencing platform by following synchronous learning and instruction approaches.

SESRIC participated in the “Interdisciplinary Conference on Family” which was organized by the Memur-Sen Confederation of Public Servants Trade Unions and the Social Sciences University of Ankara (ASBU) on 14-16 August 2020 in Ankara, Turkey. The Conference was attended by academicians and representatives of various national and international organizations.

SESRIC participated in the series of Virtual Meetings of the UN Global Network of Institutions for Statistical Training (GIST) Task Team on ‘Adressing NSO Needs’ held between 30 April – 12 August 2020. The African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP), International Labour Organization (ILO), International Statistical Institute (ISI), United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), SESRIC, Statistics Norway, University of Queensland-Australia, and U.S. Census Bureau took part in the virtual meetings.

Within the framework of the OIC Occupational Safety and Health Network (OIC-OSHNET) and in collaboration with the Directorate General of Occupational Safety and Health (DGOSH) of Turkey, SESRIC organized a Webinar on “Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Systems during the Pandemic: The Impact and Response”. The Webinar was livestreamed and recorded on SESRIC’s YouTube Channel which is reachable through the following link: https://bit.ly/sesric-live

Within the framework of SESRIC’s OIC Agriculture Capacity Building Programme (OIC-AgriCaB), SESRIC organized a training course on “Food Safety Analysis” on 10-14 August 2020 for the benefit of participants from the Ministry of Fisheries, Marine Resources and Agriculture of the Republic of Maldives (MFMRA) and Maldives Food and Drug Authority (MFDA).

Within the framework of its Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, SESRIC organised an Online Consultative Meeting on SDG 4 Quality Education Indicators for the benefit of the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) of Qatar on 27-29 July 2020.

The Steering Committee Meeting of the BINA Program was held virtually on 23 July 2020 to follow up on the progress made and the future actions with respect to the implementation of the Program in light of the ongoing challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic as well the understandable escalating difficulties of implementing activities in Libya under the current conditions. The Meeting was attended by the Steering Committee Meeting members from the partnering institutions; SESRIC, the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and Libyan Program for Reintegration and Development (LPRD), in which the remaining activities to be implemented were thoroughly discussed and approved as well as the disbursement status. In addition the steering committee members addressed the exit strategy of the program in order to assure sustainability of the services currently provided by the program.

Within the framework of its Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, SESRIC organised on 21-24 July 2020 an Online Training Course on ‘Transport Statistics’ for the benefit of the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Analysis (INSAE) of Benin.

SESRIC participated in the Webinar on “Regional, Sub-regional and Interregional Organizations in the Global South as Actors in Responding to COVID-19” organized jointly by United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) and UNDP Seoul Policy Centre’s on Wednesday, 15 July 2020.

Within the framework of SESRIC’s Occupational Safety and Health Capacity Building Programme (OSHCaB), SESRIC organized a training course on “Inspection Services for Occupational Safety and Health” on 13-21 July 2020.

Within the framework of the Central Banks Capacity Building Programme (CB-CaB), SESRIC organised a training course on “Islamic Banking and Diversification of Islamic Financial Instruments” on 13-17 July 2020.

Within the framework of SESRIC’s Stock Exchanges Capacity Building Programme (SEP-CaB), SESRIC organized a training course on “Stock Exchange Awareness” on 13-21 July 2020.

SESRIC participated in the Online Consultative Meeting on the Impacts of COVID-19 on Trade and the Way Forward which was organized by the COMCEC Coordination Office on 13 July 2020. The meeting was attended by more than 50 experts from the OIC member countries, relevant OIC institutions and international organizations.

SESRIC participated in the COMCEC COVID-19 Tourism Consultative Meeting which was held on 9 July 2020, in a virtual format, with the theme of “the Impacts of COVID-19 on Tourism in the OIC Member Countries and the Way Forward”. The meeting was attended by the representatives of 25 OIC member countries and experts from relevant OIC institutions and international organizations.

Within the framework of the OIC Capacity Building Programme for Public Employment Services (OIC-PESCaB) and the Executive Programme for the Implementation of OIC Framework for Cooperation on Labour, Employment and Social Protection 2019/2020, SESRIC organized a training course on “Skills and Entrepreneurship Development” on 08-17 July 2020 for the benefit of 34 participants from the “Ministry of Employment, Vocational Training and Handicrafts”, the “Ministry of Civil Service and Public Service Renewal”, and the “Ministry of Labour, Social Dialogue, Professional Organizations and Relations with the Institutions” of the Republic of Senegal. The course was conducted through a video conferencing platform by following synchronous learning and instructional approaches.

The Statistical, Economic and Social Research, and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC), the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies (ORSAM), OSTIM Technical University and Istanbul University jointly organized a Webinar on “Economic Impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic on OIC Countries” on 06 July 2020. High-level speakers from various background came together to discuss economic impacts of COVID-19 from different perspectives, including energy, technology and employment.

SESRIC participated in the virtual Workshop on the Development of National Gene Banks in OIC Member Countries which was organized by the Islamic Organization for Food Security (IOFS) and conducted online on July 5-6, 2020 via videoconference under the chairmanship of the United Arab Emirates. The workshop was attended by 160 experts and representatives from 30 OIC member states, OIC institutions and international organizations.

SESRIC participated in the COMCEC COVID-19 Agriculture Consultative Meeting which was held on June 30, 2020, in a virtual format, with the theme of “The Impacts of COVID-19 on Food Security and Agriculture in the OIC Member Countries.” The meeting was attended by representatives of 17 OIC member countries and experts from relevant OIC institutions and international organizations.

Within the framework of the OIC Tourism Capacity Building Programme (Tr-CaB), SESRIC organized a training course on “Strategic Planning for Sustainable Tourism Development” for the benefit of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Leisure of the Republic of Togo on 29 June – 03 July 2020.

Within the framework of SESRIC’s Occupational Safety and Health Capacity Building Programme (OSHCaB), SESRIC organized a training course on "Occupational Security and Health Structures” on 29 June-3 July 2020.

SESRIC organized a Webinar on “Best Practices of TVET Centres amid the Covid-19 Pandemic” within the framework of the Vocational Education and Training Programme for the Member States of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC-VET). The Webinar was livestreamed and recorded on SESRIC’s YouTube Channel which is reachable through the following link: https://bit.ly/sesric-live.

Within the framework of SESRIC’s Central Banks Capacity Building Programme (CB-CaB), the Centre organized a training course on "Islamic Financial Instruments" on 22-26 June 2020.

SESRIC attended the Informal Online Meeting of the Working Party on Development Finance Statistics (WP-STAT) which was held as a 4-day programme during 22-25 June 2020. The informal online meeting brought together more than 120 members of WP-STAT from development and/or planning ministries, national statistical offices and development finance agencies of OECD-Development Assistance Committee (DAC) member countries as well as Non-DAC members. SESRIC participated the meeting as an observer as part of its membership since July 2017 in the Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD) Task Force.

SESRIC participated in the Global Expert Group on Refugee and Internally Displaced Persons Statistics (EGRIS) Meeting held virtually on 19 June 2020 organised by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The meeting discussed the draft plan for EGRIS Phase III including the scope of work as outlined in ToR, structure of EGRIS and the proposed technical subgroups with a focus on dissemination and promotion, capacity building, and knowledge sharing and refinement of Compilers Manual.

The Extraordinary Virtual Conference of Culture Ministers of Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) Member States was held on 17 June 2020 under the theme of ‘Sustainability of Cultural Action in the Face of Crises (Covid-19)’. The Conference virtually brought together Ministers responsible for Culture from ICESCO Member States alongside representatives of several OIC institutions, regional and international organizations. The Conference was chaired by H.E. Ms. Noura Al Kaabi, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development of the United Arab Emirates.

SESRIC participated in the COMCEC Project Funding (CPF) Online Training conducted on a weekly basis between 10 June and 8 July through a dedicated virtual meeting platform hosted by the Presidency of Strategy and Budget under the Presidency of Republic of Turkey. Project coordinators and contact persons whose projects were final-listed for financing in the 2020 implementation period of CPF participated in the weekly sessions.

Within the framework of SESRIC’s OIC Tourism Capacity Building Programme (Tr-CaB), the Centre organized a training of trainers (ToT) course on “Promoting Entrepreneurship for Tourism Industry Competitiveness” on 08-12 June 2020 in its efforts to commemorate Gabala, as the OIC City of Tourism 2020.

SESRIC participated in two extraordinary sessions of the Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities (CCSA) held virtually on 4 May and 18 June 2020. Dr. Atilla Karaman, Director of Statistics and Information of SESRIC, and Ms. Nenden Octavarulia Shanty, Researcher, represented SESRIC in the sessions.

SESRIC organized a training course on “Application of Advanced Technology for the Enhancement of Cotton Productivity” on 27 April - 01 May 2020 through a video conferencing platform. The course was based on synchronous learning and instruction approaches.

The extraordinary meeting of the OIC Steering Committee on Health (SCH) on the novel Coronavirus was held on 9 April 2020. The meeting was organized via video conference by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and chaired by H.E. Abdul-Rahman Bin Mohamed Al-Owais, Minister of Health and Prevention of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Chair of the Seventh Islamic Conference of Health Ministers (ICHM). The meeting was attended by the Ministers of Health, members of the OIC-SCH, along with representatives of OIC institutions and a number of international organizations.

SESRIC, in its capacity as the Secretariat of the OIC Statistical Commission (OIC-StatCom), organised the Follow-up Meeting of the OIC-StatCom on 5 March 2020 as a side event of the 51^st Session of the United Nations Statistical Commission in New York, USA. 35 delegates from 17 OIC member countries including Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Gambia, Indonesia, Libya, Malaysia, Morocco, Mozambique, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, and Uzbekistan, as well as 3 international organisations including Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics (AITRS), Statistical Centre for the Cooperation Council for the Arab Countries of the Gulf (GCC-STAT), and United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), and 2 partner institutions (CDC and CDC Foundation).

The Graduation Ceremony of the “NAMA Competition for Entrepreneurship” took place on 02 March 2020 at BINA Incubator in Istanbul, Republic of Turkey. The event was organized within the framework of the “SME Development and Empowerment Project” of the BINA Program, which is a joint initiative of the SESRIC, the Libyan Program for Reintegration and Development (LPRD) and the Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB).

The delegation of SESRIC headed by HE Mr. Nebil Dabur, Director General, and composed of Dr. Atilla Karaman, Director of Statistics and Information Department, and Ms. Nenden Octavarulia Shanty, Researcher, participated in the 51^st Session of UN Statistical Commission (UNSC) and its side events on 2-5 March 2020 in New York.

SESRIC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with OSTIM Technical University to facilitate and strengthen cooperation in the areas of common interests.

SESRIC participated in the workshop on “Trade in Services Negotiations Techniques in OIC Member Countries” which was organized by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and Islamic Centre for Development of Trade (ICDT) in Casablanca, Kingdom of Morocco, on 12-13 February 2020.

SESRIC participated in the symposium on “Working Together for a Water-Secure Future” which was organized by the Inter-Islamic Network on Water Resources Development and Management (INWRDAM) in Amman, Jordan on 09 February 2020. The symposium was held under the patronage of HRH Prince Hassan Bin Talal and attended by the focal points of INWRDAM Member States along with the professionals, decision makers, and academicians working in the domain of water. Mr. Fadi Farasin, Assistant Director General, represented the Centre thereat.

SESRIC hosted a delegation from the Diplomatic Institute of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar at its Headquarters in Ankara, Turkey on 04 February 2020.

The Standing Committee for Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH) and the OIC General Secretariat jointly organized the “International Workshop on Sustainable Cities: Issues and Challenges of Rapid Urbanization” on 28-29 January, in Islamabad, Pakistan.

The Steering Committee Meeting of the BINA Program was held on 20 January 2020 at SESRIC Headquarters in Ankara, Turkey to discuss the progress made from the last meeting and the future actions with respect to the implementation of the Program. The Meeting was attended by high-level representatives from the partnering institutions namely, SESRIC, the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and Libyan Program for Reintegration and Development (LPRD).

SESRIC organized in collaboration with IsDB, Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), Nazilli Cotton Research Institute (CRI) of Turkey and Cotton Development Board (CDB) of the Ministry of Agriculture of Bangladesh, a training course on “New Approaches in Cotton Agronomy: Sowing Experiments” on 19-30 January 2020 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

On 19-20 January 2020, the General Secretariat of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in coordination with the Islamic Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (ICCIA) hosted the “Workshop on spreading the Family Bank Experience in the G5 Sahel Countries” in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

H.E. Mr Yavuz Selim Kıran, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, paid a courtesy visit to the Headquarters of the Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC), on 17 January 2020, in Ankara, Republic of Turkey. During his visit, H.E. Mr Yavuz Selim Kıran, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, met with H.E. Mr Nebil Dabur, the Director General of SESRIC and the Directors of the Centre along with all the staff of the Centre.