ISTANBUL, Feb 11 (A.A) - Representatives of more than seventy countries are expected to participate in the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC)-European Union (EU) Joint Forum which will bring together the OIC and EU nations for the first time while 42 countries will attend the forum at foreign ministerial level.
Foreign ministers who will attend the forum that will be hosted by Foreign Minister Ismail Cem are:
''Dr. Abdullah Abdullah of Afghanistan; Abdelaziz Belkhadem of Algeria; Benita-Maria Ferrero-Waldner of Austria; Vilayat Quliyev of Azerbaijan; Sheikh Muhammad bin Mubarak Al-Khalifa of Bahrain; Morshed Khan of Bangladesh; Dr. Zlatko Lagumdzija of Bosnia-Herzegovina; Prince Mohamed Bolkiah of Brunei; Solomon Pasi of Bulgaria; Ioannis Kasoulides of Greek Cypriot administration; Ahmed Maher of Egypt; Hubert Vedrine of France; Jean Francois Ndongou of Gabon; Joschka Fischer of Germany; George Papandreou of Greece; Janos Martonyi of Hungary; Kamal Kharazi of Iran; Naji Sabri Ahmad al-Hadithi of Iraq; Marwan Muasher of Jordan; Tahsin Ertugruloglu of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC); Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jabir Al Sabah of Kuwait; Muratbek Imanaliyev of Kyrgyzstan; Mahmud Hammud of Lebanon; Abd Al-Rahman Shalgam of Libya; Modibo Sidibe of Mali; Jozias Van Aartsen of the Netherlands; Yousef Bin Alawi Abdullah of Oman; Abdul Settar of Pakistan; Faruq Kaddumi of Palestine; Sheikh Hamad bin Jasim bin Jabir Al Thani of Qatar; Mircea Dan Geoana of Romania; Cheikh Tidiane Gadio of Senegal; Sangare Abou Dramane of Ivory Coasts; Eduard Kukan of Slovakia; Dimitrij Rupel of Slovenia; Josep Pique of Spain; Mustafa Osman Ismail of Sudan; Farouk al-Shara of Syria; Dah Ould Abdi of Mauritania; Jack Straw of Britain; and Abu Bakr al-Qurbi of Yemen.''
Meanwhile, the delegations of countries which will not attend the forum at foreign ministerial level will be headed by:
''Albanian Ambassador to Turkey Jonuz Begaj; Belgian Foreign Ministry General Director Jean-Louis Mignot; Cameroonian Foreign Ministry Director for Relations with Muslim Countries Adoum Gargoum; Czech Republic's Deputy Foreign Minister Rudolf Jindrak; Dannish State Minister Carsten Sondergaard; Estonian Foreign Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Vaino Reinart; Finnish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Jaakko Laajava; Guinean Ambassador to Iran Alfa Ibrahima Sow; Indonesian Ambassador to United Arab Emirates Ibrahim Yusuf; Irish State Minister Dan Wallace; Italian Culture Minister Giuliano Urbani; Kazakh Agriculture Minister Akhmetzhan Yesimov; Latvian Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Maris Reikstins; Lithuanian Foreign Ministry Special Representative Vytautas Pleckaitis; Luxembourg's Culture Minister Erna Hennicot-Schoepges; Malaysian Foreign Ministry Special Representative Tan Sri Abdulkadir Muhammed; Moroccan Islamic Affairs Minister Abdelkebir M'Daghri Alaoui; Mozambican Deputy Foreign Minister Hipolito Patricio; Nigerian Ambassador to Turkey Laval Munir; Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Jan Truszcynski; Portugese Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Filipe Amado; Saudi Arabian Deputy Foreign Minister Nizar Ubeyd Medeni; Surinamese Ambassador to Belgium Gerhard Otmar; Tajik Deputy Foreign Minister Erkin Kasimov; Thailand's Foreign Ministry Special Representative Nitya Pibul Songgram; Tunisian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Izzeddin Kerkeni; Ugandan Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ahmed Kissuule; United Arab Emirates Foreign Ministry General Director Muhammed Yasin Samhan El Noimi; Uzbek Ambassador to Turkey Abdulahat Calilov and Maltese Foreign Ministry Representative Ugo Mifsud Bonicci.''
Meanwhile, OIC Secretary General Abdelouahed Belkeziz, Council of Europe Secretary General Walter Schwimmer, Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Secretary General Jan Kubis, Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary General Abdurrahman Bin Hamid El Atiya and EU Joint Defense and Foreign Politics High Representative Javier Solana and many international relations experts and intellectuals will attend the forum.
FOREIGN MINISTER CEM HOSTS WELCOME RECEPTION BEFORE OIC-EU JOINT FORUM
Foreign Minister Ismail Cem hosted on Monday ''Welcome Reception'' at the Ciragan Palace before the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC)-European Union (EU) Joint Forum.
Foreign Minister Cem and his wife Elcin Cem welcomed the delegations that will attend the Joint Forum at the entrance of the Bellini Restaurant.
Turkish food was served in the reception which lasted for almost two hours.
Cem chatted with EU Joint Defense and Foreign Policy High Commissioner Javier Solana, Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs Farouk al-Shara, and Professor Bernard Lewis.
At the reception, Cem also talked with Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs Benita Ferrera-Waldner, Pakistani Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdus Sattar, Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Kamal Kharrazi, Kuwaiti Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Sabah al-Salim, and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertugruloglu.
Cem decorated World Association of Travel Agencies (WATA) Executive Board member Nihat Boytuzun with the Medal of Merit for his contributions to tourism.
Following the reception, Foreign Minister Ismail Cem had a bilateral meeting with Sheik Hamad bin Jasim bin Jabir Al-Thani, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, the Term President of OIC.