Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein stressed today, Monday, the importance of continuing meetings with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to take initiatives and develop solutions to many problems.

A statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fouad Hussein, received today, Monday, the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Hussein Ibrahim Taha, and his accompanying delegation.

The Minister stressed, according to the statement, the importance of concerted efforts with the international organization to enhance unity and solidarity, as well as commitment to joint action on the important issues facing the Islamic nation.

The Minister praised the organization's efforts in supporting and preparing for the success of the meeting of the Organization's Council of Foreign Ministers regarding the crime of desecration and repeated burning of copies of the Holy Qur'an, which Iraq called for, stressing the need to confront these reprehensible acts, which feed the phenomenon of Islamophobia and pose a threat to coexistence between religions and civil peace, in many societies in the world, as the title of freedom of expression and the right to demonstrate does not justify these actions and behaviors, which represent an assault on the freedoms, values and beliefs of others, pointing to the importance of adopting an initiative by the international organization to dialogue with the European Union and the countries concerned and their civil society organizations to eliminate these Disgraceful thoughts and behavior, and the need to respect the feelings and sanctities of more than two billion Muslims around the world.

The Mminister stressed, according to the statement, the need to exert the necessary efforts and work during the meetings of the United Nations General Assembly next September in New York to ensure the issuance of international resolutions that include not insulting the heavenly books or disrespecting religions and religious symbols and working to combat the phenomenon of Islamophobia to the office of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Baghdad and its management and transformation into a regional office, pointing to the importance of continuing the meetings to take initiatives and develop solutions to many problems.

For his part, the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Hussein Ibrahim Taha, praised the position of the Iraqi government regarding the burning of the Holy Qur’an and its call for holding an extraordinary meeting of Foreign Ministers of the member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation at the end of last July, pointing to the importance of the decision that came out of the meeting and had an important impact on Confronting these crimes, stressing the importance of concerted collective efforts to combat extremism, hate crimes, and insulting the divine religions./ End

Source: National Iraqi News Agency