H.E. Dr. Alhagi Manta Drammeh, Head of the International Cooperation and External Relations Division represented the Academy at the Intergovernmental Experts Group Meeting on the Establishment of an OIC Platform for the Protection and Preservation of Cultural Heritage in the Muslim World on 26-27 Shawal 1444, corresponding to 16-17 May 2023, at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation headquarters in Jeddah.

The idea of protecting and preserving cultural heritage in OIC member states dates back to the 1980s, with the creation of the OIC Commission for the Preservation of Islamic Cultural Heritage as a subsidiary body and the Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture as an executive body. The session of this committee was later merged with that of IRCICA in 2000. The Council of Foreign Ministers held in Niger on November 27 and 28, 2020, in its resolution 10/47-C, requested the OIC Secretariat General to implement the resolution on the establishment of the OIC Platform in collaboration with the relevant OIC institutions. Accordingly, the May 16-17 meeting was convened to recommend the status, modalities, composition, scope, themes, tasks and operation of the platform.

The opening session began with remarks from the representatives of the Foreign Session of the Council of Islamic Ministers, who welcomed the representatives of OIC member countries and representatives of OIC institutions. The IRCICA representative spoke of the project progress to create the platform and the consultations that had led to the preparation of the action plan. The ICESCO representative spoke of the important role of its Heritage Centre.

Furthermore, IRCICA Secretariat General spoke about the legal basis for the creation of the platform, including the resolutions of the ministers and summits and the results of the workshops and conferences, held in 2017 and 2019 respectively.

Several interventions were made by representatives to enrich the report before its submission to the Council of Foreign Ministers meeting to be held in Cairo in June 2023. The representative of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy conveyed the best regards of the Academy’s Secretary General to the participants, appreciating the idea of establishing the Platform, and thus transmitted the Academy’s willingness to contribute to the establishment of such a platform from a Sharia point of view, being the main reference in the matter.