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His Excellency Dato Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia opened the
Twenty-seventh Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers. In his statement, he
highlighted issues of paramount importance for the future of Muslim countries. He
enumerated the eras of Islamic history and civilization embodied by the precepts of the
Quran, the sunna of the Holy Prophet and sound conventional principles. He also highlighted
the errors of Muslims in past decades which led to their current under-development and
regression compared to their achievements in terms of cultural, scientific and philosophical
advancement of yore. His Excellency Prime Minister of Malaysia expressed the hope that the
ICFM will recognise the dangers and the challenges posed by globalization, and recognising
them, take the necessary first step towards reducing the divisions between Muslim countries
and focusing their attention on the acquisition of knowledge to combat the use of
Information Technology to destroy the values, faith and the legacy of their civilization.
The participants stood for a minute of silence to pray for the soul of H.E. Hafez Al Assad, the
late president of the Syrian Arab Republic, who passed away on 10th June 2000. The
Conference then commended him for his firm positions in defending Arab and Muslim causes
as well as for his wise leadership of his country and for achieving stability, security and
development for the Syrian people.
The participants decided to consider the address by His Excellency, the Malaysian Prime
Minister as an orientation document for the Conference.
Addresses were then given by Their Excellencies Cheikh Tidjana Gadio, Minister of Foreign
Affairs of the Republic of Senegal, Mr. Yusuf Ibn Abdallah Ibn Alawi, Minister of Foreign
Affairs of the Sultanate of Oman and Mr. Abdul Sattar Aziz, Foreign Minister of the Islamic
Republic of Pakistan, on behalf of the African, Arab and Asian Groups respectively. They
conveyed their profound thanks to the Government and People of Malaysia for their warm
welcome and generous hospitality, and the excellent organization provided to ensure the
success of the proceedings of the Conference. They commended His Excellency Dato Seri
Dr. Mahathir for the skill and courage in taking initiatives and for his far-sightedness in his
leadership of Malaysia which has made it a model of good governance and development and
a source of pride for the Islamic States.
His Excellency Youssouf Ouderaogo, Minister of State, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Burkina
Faso, Chairman of the Twenty-sixth Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers
delivered a speech in which he reported on the different activities carried out by the
organization in pursuance of the decisions of the Twenty-sixth Session of the ICFM in the
political, economic and cultural domains. His Excellency also made an objective assessment
of the needs of the Organization and its General Secretariat in terms of financial resources
and necessary working means. He commended the praiseworthy efforts made by His
Excellency Dr. Azeddine Laraki, the Secretary General of the OIC for the development of the
OIC and for consolidating its credibility. He also expressed his trust in the chair of the
current session of the Conference and in its ability to press ahead with the process of reform
and follow up the decisions of the Conference.
