Workshop on ‘The Impact of Food Crisis on the Economies of OIC Countries’
Date: 17-18 June 2009
Venue: Casablanca - Morocco

In line with Resolution of the 24th Session of the COMCEC which designates “The Impact of Food Crisis on the Economies of OIC Countries” as the theme for the Exchange of Views at the Twenty Fifth Session of the COMCEC and requests the IDB/ICDT, in collaboration with the SESRIC (the coordinating institution for the exchange of views sessions), the OIC General Secretariat, the relevant OIC institutions and other related international organisations to organise a workshop on this topic prior to the Twenty Fifth Session of the COMCEC and to submit its report to the said COMCEC Session, the Islamic Centre for Development of Trade (ICDT), in collaboration with Ministry of Foreign Trade of the Kingdom of Morocco and the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) of the Islamic Development Bank co-organized a two days workshop on “The Impact of Food Crisis on the Economies of the Member States of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Developmental Prospects of Trade and Investments in the Agricultural Sector” on 17-18 June 2009 in Casablanca, Kingdom of Morocco. Mr. Mazhar Hussain, researcher at SESRIC, represented the Centre thereat and presented a working paper titled: “Socio-economic Impacts of Food Prices Volatility in the OIC Member Countries”.

The objective of the workshop was to assess the impacts of the world food crisis on the OIC Member States and to examine the developmental prospects of trade and investment in the agricultural sector. The workshop was attended by experts from the OIC Member States, the OIC institutions, regional and international organizations. In the first session of the first day of the workshop international organizations, such as FAO, UNCTAD, IFPRI and IFAD, made their presentations on the crisis with more concentration on the major causes of food crisis and the preventive actions and measures taken by the governments at both national and international levels. The ICDT and SESRIC, on one hand, presented their research findings about the impacts of food crisis on the OIC Member States during the second session. In addition to that and in the following third session, some OIC specialized and affiliated institutions such as IDB, ITFC, ICD, ICIEC and ICCI made their presentations and informed the participants about the initiatives they have taken so far to facilitate and promote agriculture and food industry in the OIC member states by providing the necessary financial and managerial services.

The Second day was dedicated to the OIC Member States to share their national experiences during the food crisis and measures taken by them to mitigate its negative impacts and share the information about the potential opportunities for trade and investments in the agricultural and agro-food industry sectors in the OIC Member States.

The report and recommendations of this workshop will be submitted to the Ministerial Session of the Ministers of Commerce of the OIC which will be held during the 25th Session of the COMCEC in Istanbul, Republic of Turkey from 5-9 November 2009.