SESRIC participated in the 25^th Meeting of the COMCEC Trade Working Group, held under the theme of “Developing/Improving Export Strategies in the OIC Member Countries” on 22-23 September 2025, in Ankara, Republic of Türkiye.

The Meeting convened representatives from 23 OIC countries, alongside international organisations and OIC institutions, including SESRIC, to deliberate on enhancing export strategies across the OIC region.

The meeting commenced with opening remarks by Mr. Selçuk KOÇ, Director General of the COMCEC Coordination Office, who welcomed participants and highlighted the strategic importance of enhancing export strategies across the OIC region. The opening session was followed by a presentation based on the forthcoming OIC Trade Outlook 2024, an annual publication by COMCEC that aims to offer a comprehensive overview of international trade and trade performance of OIC countries, with a particular emphasis on impact factors on intra-OIC trade.

The meeting continued with the presentation of the Draft Research Report on “Developing/Improving Export Strategies in the OIC Member Countries” which underscored key findings from the evidence-based research conducted to formulate actionable policy recommendations aimed at fostering regional and international cooperation among member countries and beyond.

The programme proceeded with insights drawn from selected case studies featured in the same report, including examples from Nigeria, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Egypt, China, and the Netherlands, examining their approaches to export strategy development, diversification by products and markets, and the adoption of digital tools in trade.

Delegates then had the opportunity to examine the experiences of selected OIC Member States, with Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Türkiye sharing their national approaches to developing and implementing export strategies. This was followed by a contribution by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), offering an international perspective on trade policy and global practices relevant to export development.

The final day of the meeting began with a session on the main challenges and success factors in developing and improving export strategies in the OIC Member Countries, during which a synthesis of structural and policy-level issues identified throughout the research was shared, along with enabling factors that contribute to effective strategy formulation and implementation.

In the following policy debate session, country representatives were individually invited to comment on the proposed policy recommendations and to articulate their countries’ position with respect to each policy recommendation. These remarks and positions will be incorporated into the final recommendation document to be submitted to the 41^st COMCEC Ministerial Session.

The Working Group (WG) mechanism serves as one of the main instruments of the COMCEC Strategy towards the realization of its objectives. The Strategy ensures active and direct involvement of the Member Country experts in the COMCEC cooperation areas, through regular WG meetings in each cooperation area. The WGs aims to produce and disseminate knowledge and share experience and good practices. They also provide a suitable platform for creating a common understanding and approximating policies among the Member Countries to overcome their common development problems.

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