Jeddah : Sunday, July 2, 2006

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) organized a workshop on Capacity Building in Facilitation of Trade and Investment, from 30 Jumad-I – 2 Jumad-II 1427H (26-28 June 2006). The workshop was organized by the IDB in response to the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Conference (COMCEC) decision in its 21st session held in Istanbul from 22-25 November 2005 which mandated the IDB to organize a workshop on this subject prior to its 22nd session in 2006.

The workshop was aimed at creating awareness among member countries about the importance of capacity building for the facilitation of trade and investment and providing an opportunity to the participating member countries to share experiences, and learn about best practices. It also discussed the possible ways and means of enhancing their capacity and to assess and identify their capacity building needs and priorities.

The workshop concluded with a number of concrete recommendations that would be submitted for the 22nd COMCEC session to be held in Istanbul from 21-24 November 2006 for consideration.

It is worth noting that the workshop was attended by senior experts from 15 select group of OIC member countries, OIC Secretariat General, 5 OIC affiliated institutions, and renowned experts from international organizations.