Ban Ki-Moon Visits OIC HQ

JEDDAH, June 4 (Bernama) -- United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon created history as the first UN secretary-general to visit the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) headquarters here on Sunday. The visit came as a result of the ever-strengthening cooperation between the OIC and the UN, since secretaries-general Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and Ban took their respective offices, the OIC said in a statement. Ihsanoglu assured Ban of OIC's support and cooperation on issues of international concern. Ongoing and future OIC-UN joint activities which include cooperation in the field of mediation and humanitarian assistance, Palestine-Israel peace process, security and humanitarian situation in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan and Sahel region were discussed during the meeting. Reiterating his conviction of OIC being a strategic partner of the UN, Ban said the UN and OIC were united in building greater understanding among people and tolerance and cooperation among nations. -- BERNAMA