The 41^st Meeting of the Board of Directors of SESRIC was convened on 18^th December 2018 at the Headquarters of SESRIC with the participation of the following representatives of the new elected member countries of the Board for the term of the three-year period from 1^st April 2018 to 31^st March 2021: Mr. Hounsa Mahounou Laurent (representative of Republic of Benin), Mr. Salahadine Hassan Abdalla (Representative of Republic of Chad), Mr. Mahmoud Muhammed Ali Abdurrahman (representative of State of Palestine), Mr. Abulldah M. Albatil (representative of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), Mrs. Neila Ben Khalifa (representative of Republic of Tunisia), Amb. Mohammad Wali Naeemi (representative of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan), Mr. Arhan Syafrisyah bin Shah Anur (representative of Malaysia), and Prof. Omer Demir (representative of Republic of Turkey). Amb. Musa Kulaklıkaya, Director General of SESRIC, and Mr. Jakhongir Khasanov, the representative of the Secretary General of the OIC, attended the Meeting as ex officio members of the Board. The Meeting was also attended by the Heads of the Departments of the Centre.

Following the recitation of the Holy Quran, Amb. Musa Kulaklıkaya, Director General of the Centre, opened the Meeting by delivering a welcoming speech in which he welcomed the new Members of the Board of Directors and congratulated them on the confidence accorded to them by their Governments to represent their countries in the Centre’s Board of Directors. He expressed his confidence that the valuable deliberations and recommendations of the Board Members will be highly instrumental in improving the work of the Centre for more benefit to the member countries.

Following the welcome remarks made by the Director General, the Members of the Board of Directors elected by consensus the representative of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, H.E. Amb. Mohammad Wali Naeemi (Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to the OIC), as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the three-year period of 1^st April 2018 to 31^st March 2021. They also elected the representative of the Republic of Turkey, Prof. Omer Demir, as the Rapporteur of the meetings of the Board of Directors for the same period.

As the new Chairman of the Board, Amb. Mohammad Wali Naeemi started the Meeting with expressing his thanks and gratitude to the Members of the Board for the confidence they accorded to him through electing him as the Chairman of the Board for the upcoming three-year period. He also expressed his thanks and appreciation to the Director General and the Staff of the Centre for the warm hospitality and excellent arrangements and preparations they made for ensuring the success of the Meeting. Amb. Naeemi also appraised the importance of the role of SESRIC, as one of the most active OIC organs, in supporting the efforts of the OIC and its member countries through the valuable initiatives, programmes and activities undertaken by the Centre in the three mandated areas of statistics, research and training.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors, Amb. Naeemi, then, gave the floor to the representative of the OIC General Secretariat, Mr. Jakhongir Khasanov, to read the message of H.E. Dr. Yousef Bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen, the Secretary General of the OIC.

Following the message of H.E. the Secretary General, a presentation on “OIC and SESRIC Mandate” has been made Mr. Nabil Dabour, Assistant Director General of SESRIC. In this presentation, Mr. Dabour briefed the new members of the Board on the OIC history, evolution, frameworks of cooperation and institutions. He also highlighted the various initiatives, programmes, modalities, methodologies and approaches which SESRIC have been using over the last four decades in implementing its mandate in the three areas of statistics, research and training.

After the adoption of the Agenda of the Meeting, the subsequent working session continued under the direction of the new Chairman, Amb. Naeemi, where the Board reviewed and discussed the Report of the Director General of SESRIC, activities of the Centre during 2018, the Budget Proposal and the Work Programme for 2020.

During the deliberations, the Board members made valuable remarks and recommendations on both the technical and the financial affairs of the centre. They agreed on the submission of the proposed budget of the Centre for the financial year 2020, in the amount of US$ 4,870,000, for approval and adoption by the upcoming 47^th Session of the OIC Permanent Finance Committee (PFC), which will be held in April 2019.

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