The Permanent Financial Committee of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held its fiftieth session to discuss the draft budget of the Organization and its subsidiary organs, during the period 15-17 Jumada II 1443H corresponding to 18-20 January 2022D, at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Organization in Jeddah.

Representatives of 42 member states and representatives of the General Secretariat and subsidiary organs attended the meeting. The representative of the Republic of Niger opened the session and handed over the presidency to the Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, His Excellency Ambassador Rizwan Sheikh, in his capacity as the head of the delegation of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to conduct the work of the session for the fiftieth session of the Financial Committee. The Bureau Board was elected and subsequently the Permanent Financial Committee approved the Islamic Republic of Pakistan as Chair, the State of Palestine, the Republic of Yemen, and the Republic of Cameroon as Vice-Chairpersons, and the United Arab Emirates was chosen as Rapporteur.

His Excellency the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Mr. Hussein Ibrahim Taha, delivered a speech on the occasion in which he praised the efforts made by the distinguished delegates to ensure the proper functioning and application of financial laws as well as to improve the financial efficiency of the Organization in general. This was followed by a speech by His Excellency the President of the Board, who presented a brief summary of the financial report for the years 2019-2020 and the notes and recommendations it included.

Then His Excellency Prof. Koutoub Moustapha Sano, Secretary General of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA), presented the draft budget of the Academy in the three official languages ​​of the Organization, and it was a distinct presentation that was well received and praised by the representatives of member states for its accuracy and comprehensiveness. He stressed the important role of the Academy since its inception in promoting moderation in its presentation of of Islam that is capable of dealing bringing about peace and security and stability in the world. He emphasized that the Academy also advances moderation, tolerance and coexistence in order to combat bigotry, radicalization, extremism and terrorism. He therefore called for the necessity and the need to approve the draft budget of the Academy in order to accomplish its objective. His Excellency then presented the five-year strategic plan of the Academy with its indicators and objectives, and the activities it carried out, and it was an outstanding presentation that captured the important activities awaiting the Academy that address the problems and concerns of the member states of the Organization and deal with a number of issues of thought, social and education in a scientific and perfect plan. He pointed out that the objectives outlined in the Strategy are measurable by performance indicators. The Presentation by His Excellency the Secretary General of the Academy received admiration from many representatives that called for its adoption. However other opposed the idea of any budgetary increment for this year for the General Secretariat of OIC and its subsidiaries. Following the various presentations by the Organization and its subsidiary organs, the committee decided that the budget should remain as it was in previous years without any increase, including the budget of the Academy. The committee also asked the General Secretariat and its subsidiary organs to rationalize their expenses and urged them to be efficient and effective in terms of reducing costs in their financial and administrative operations, especially reducing travel expenses, transportation, and representation expenses. The committee also urged the Organization’s General Secretariat and its subsidiary organs to implement best practices in the field of transparency and rationalization of expenditures and strive to implement the observations contained in the report of the Financial Control Authority. The committee also recommended not granting any increase in the budgets of the General Secretariat of the Organization and its subsidiary organs for the fiscal year 2023 unless there is an urgent necessity.