ISTANBUL
Under the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC) of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a special program for supporting Syria was launched, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Monday, adding that support of the Islamic world is extremely important in ensuring the political unity and territorial integrity of the country.
"Through this program, which will contribute to strengthening human and institutional capacity, we will provide project support to Syria in areas such as training, expert exchange, needs analysis, and feasibility studies," Erdogan said during the 41st COMCEC Ministerial Meeting on Monday in Istanbul.
He said: "For nearly 14 years, our Syrian brothers and sisters have paid a heavy price; nearly one million Syrians lost their lives in attacks by the Baath regime and terrorist organizations.
"Millions were forced to migrate, including 3.6 million to Türkiye. Throughout this process, we hosted Syrian refugees with a sense of hospitality."
He said Türkiye endeavored to fulfill its duty of brotherhood and neighborliness in the best possible way.
"Praise be to Allah, the oppressed Syrians finally achieved victory," he stressed.
He added that the atrocities that turned Syria into a bloodbath for 14 years finally came to an end with the Dec. 8 revolution, and Syria entered a process of recovery under the resolute leadership of Syrian President Ahmad al-Shara.
Erdogan emphasized that Türkiye continues to support the Syrian people in areas ranging from transportation to education, security to trade, health to social services, stating: "The support of our organization and the Islamic world is extremely important in ensuring the political unity and territorial integrity of the country and the lasting prosperity of our Syrian brothers and sisters.
"Syria's integration with regional economies will bring tangible benefits to both Syria and our region."
Trade relations within COMCEC
Touching on COMCEC's structure, he said: “We must promote Islamic finance products to improve small and medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs) access to finance and align export credits and insurance systems with Islamic principles.
"Through the COMCEC SME Program, we are establishing strong cooperation networks among our SMEs. I call on countries that have not yet joined to participate in this program and benefit from the work being carried out.”
He pointed out that global growth, which averaged 3.7% annually in the 20 years before the pandemic, is expected to fall to 3% in the 2025-2030 period, saying that these figures indicate not only an economic slowdown but also a search for a new balance in global economic policies.
In the face of this landscape fraught with risk and uncertainty, the vital importance of cooperation among OIC countries has once again become apparent.
The president stated that, looking back at the past 50 years of the OIC, it is an indisputable fact that countries have not received their fair share of world trade.
He said: "Today, while the average per capita income in member countries has risen from $1,169 to $4,453, the global average has risen from $2,611 to over $13,000 during the same period.
"Our share of world trade, however, has remained stagnant at 11%; we are well behind the trade target of 25% that we set among the members of the OIC."
The Islamic world, which possesses 60% of the world's natural gas reserves, 65% of its oil resources, and 25% of its global population, has not yet reached the desired position in international trade, he added.
He emphasized that it is certainly possible to take steps to change this situation, stating that the joint programs and projects implemented within COMCEC are of great importance in this regard.
Efforts to increase the number of members and expand the scope of the preferential trade system, which the OIC launched in 2022 with the aim of strengthening trade between members, are equally valuable, he stressed.
He added: "We expect all members to support efforts to consolidate this system with new-generation trade agreements. I invite countries that are not yet parties to the preferential trade system to join us, and I invite member countries to deepen our cooperation in the field of trade."