Ambassador Tarig Ali BAKHEET, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian, Cultural, and Family Affairs of the OIC, visited the SESRIC Headquarters. During the visit, Ambassador BAKHEET held a productive meeting with H.E. Ms. Zehra Zümrüt SELÇUK.

The visit underscored the commitment to deepening collaboration and bringing about synergies, and foster joint efforts within the OIC family institutions particularly in the areas of social development and humanitarian affairs. Both sides expressed a shared vision for fostering joint efforts to address critical issues such as women’s empowerment, protection of children, youth, elderly, and disabled individuals and strengthening social protection systems.

H.E. SELÇUK underlined the importance of strengthening cooperative frameworks and aligning strategies to enhance the social well-being of the OIC community, further reinforcing the pivotal role SESRIC plays in contributing to research and capacity-building initiatives for OIC countries. She mentioned that in the fields of humanitarian assistance and social development, SESRIC has successfully completed 70 activities so far, benefiting nearly 2,500 participants from OIC member countries through its various capacity-building programmes and projects.

Ambassador BAKHEET, in turn, highlighted the role of OIC institutions, mainly that of SESRIC, in promoting social development and expressed his trust in SESRIC in the joint organisation of activities focusing on social issues of mutual interest to the OIC member countries.

The visit concluded with both representatives expressing their dedication to advance the possibilities of cooperation for a more socially inclusive future for the OIC member countries.