Minister of Finance Dr Ibrahim Al-Assaf signed here today a contract for implementing the project of the buildings of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Jeddah with the Establishment of Deifallah bin Saud in cooperation with Ibn Samar Contracting Establishment. The contract worth more than SR 75 million will be implemented within 36 months. Dr Al-Assaf said the project will be implemented on Madinah Road in Jeddah on an area of about 25,000 square meters. The headquarters project includes an auditorium and four halls in addition to a mosque, a library in addition to buildings for the General Secretariat of the OIC, the General Secretariat of the Islamic Jurisprudence Council, the International Islamic News Agency (IINA), the Islamic Broadcasting Organization, the Islamic Union for Owners of Ships as well as a parking zone. Dr Al-Assaf noted that the Kingdom had extended to the OIC up to the end of 2004 about $260 million so as to support its various activities and organs. Moreover, the Kingdom has been contributing 10 percent of the budget of OIC's General Secretariat and its affiliates. The membership of the OIC amounts to 57 in addition to ten observers from the Islamic groups and the regional and international organizations, and three countries, namely Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Republic of Central Africa and Thailand. It is worth mentioning that the OIC was established in 1389 (1969) in Jeddah for enhancing cooperation among the Muslim countries and boosting the process of development in the Muslim world.
