HABITAT. The forthcoming creation of an independent Human Rights Commission by the OIC and the decision to set up a specialized center on women in Cairo has added new dimensions to the OIC-UN cooperation. Ihsanoglu pointed to the joint deadline of 2015 for the OIC to realize the objectives of the OIC Ten-Year Program of Action and for achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals, which overlap in many goals and therefore the need to strengthen cooperation to achieve those goals. For his part Mr. Pascoe began by reading a message by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in which Ki-moon expressed his appreciation of OIC support and he is eager to deepen ties and work closely on Palestinian and Israeli talks, the situation in Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, Iraq and Niger. Pascoe then commented on the various fields of cooperation between the OIC and UN saying that the OIC is stronger and having an impact in the world. The meeting was presented with a UN/OIC report on the activities undertaken since the previous UN-OIC general meeting in Geneva in July 2008. During three days, the meeting will review the cooperation and appraise the progress achieved in priority areas of cooperation including political, humanitarian, dialogue among cultures, technical cooperation, food security, industry and joint ventures, development of science and technology, human resources development, environment, health, education, and social issues concerning women, children and youth. At the conclusion of the meeting, the two sides will consider ways and means to enhance the mechanism of cooperation.
