Dr. Savaş Alpay, Director General of SESRIC, received a delegation from the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association (MÜSİAD), in his office on Tuesday 16 February 2010. The delegation comprised of Mr. Ömer Cihad Vardar, President of MÜSİAD; Mr. Mehmet Nuri Görenoğlu, Deputy President; Mr. Nail Olpak, Deputy President; Mr. Dursun Topçu, Member of Board; Mr. Murat Kalsın, Member of Board; and Eyüp Vural Aydın, General Secretary.

Mr. Mehmet Fatih Serenli, Director of Training and Technical Cooperation Department of SESRIC, informed the delegation about the Vocational Education and Training Programme of OIC Member Countries (OIC-VET) as a strong cooperation ground among similar organisations in the member countries with the purpose of providing qualified workforce that our industries and businesses need, to improve knowledge and skills of people, and to increase the level of competitiveness in the global arena. He further explained that the OIC-VET Programme provides an opportunity for organisations and entities to build OIC partnerships, exchange best practices, increase the expertise of their staff and develop the skills and competencies of the participants.

In addition to that, the Mr. Serenli also informed the visiting delegation about other technical cooperation activities of the SESRIC. In this regard, he mentioned that, together with the Central Bank of Turkey, SESRIC convened the governors of the Central Banks and Monetary Authorities of OIC Member Countries on 3 October 2009 in Istanbul on the theme “Impacts of the Current Crisis on OIC Member Countries”. The Centre also organised, in partnership with Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency, the First Meeting of Development and Cooperation Institution of OIC Member Countries on 13-14 May 2009 with the aim of enhancing our efforts to achieve our national development goals.

Mr. Hüseyin Hakan Eryetli, Director of IT and Publications, made a presentation on recently developed software and databases, including the enhanced version of the Basic Social and Economic Indicators Database (BASEIND) and the newly designed SESRIC Motion Charts (SMC) generator. Another project named as the "Member Countries in Figures" software, showing the latest figures available on over 260 indicators and operating on live BASEIND Statistics data was also presented. The MÜSIAD delegation showed great interest in the SMC software and proposed some related technical cooperation on this project.

After the presentations, Dr. Alpay highlighted the research and statistics activities of the SESRIC in business and related areas, and the ongoing study on the OIC Doing Business Index, which will elaborate the level of improvement in business and investment environment of OIC Member Countries for policy makers in general and businesspeople in particular. In this regard, the Director General underlined the importance of trade and commerce towards realising the development efforts of OIC Member Countries, and stressed the need for enhanced cooperation and collaboration among relevant agencies operating in the member countries.

On his part, Mr. Ömer Cihad Vardar, President of MÜSİAD, expressed his thanks to Dr. Alpay for his warm reception of the delegation and informed him that MÜSİAD is ready to cooperate with SESRIC in the field of business and related areas through exchanging knowledge and expertise for the benefit of the OIC Member Countries. He also expressed his wish that the concerned institutions and enterprises in OIC Member Countries would actively participate in the XIV International Business Forum (IBF) scheduled to be held in Istanbul on 6-9 October 2010, hosted by MÜSİAD. In this regard, he mentioned that the theme of this IBF will be on “The role of Science and Technology in the Development of OIC Member Countries”, and expressed his desire to cooperate in the organisation of this particular Forum, given the expertise of SESRIC in research, statistics and training in the field of science and technology.

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