The Shura Council State of Qatar

HE Deputy Speaker of the Shura Council Dr. Hamda bint Hassan Al Sulaiti affirmed on Monday that the State of Qatar - in accordance with the directives of its wise leadership - attaches great importance to the country's comprehensive and integrated development, taking into account that Qatar's growth and development depend on the development and security of other countries.

This came in Her Excellency's speech at the main session of the 17th session of the Conference of Union of Councils of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states, currently held in Algiers, under the title 'The Islamic World, Challenges of Modernization and Development'.

Highlighting the State of Qatar's contributions to the international efforts for sustainable development, Her Excellency estimated the total value of grants and development assistance provided by the State of Qatar's Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) in 2021 at more than USD 500,000,000. For decades, Qatar has sought to assist the least developed countries and landlocked developing countries and small island developing states, and continues to do its best as a strategic partner in the development of the least developed countries, Her Excellency said.

Commenting on the Islamic world's response to challenges of modernization and development, Her Excellency drew attention to the current political and social instability in the countries of the Islamic world, their faltering economies in wake of Covid-19 repercussions, and the Russia-Ukraine crisis that triggered supply chains disruption.

The 57 Islamic countries occupy more than a fifth of the land area, with a distinguished geographical and human diversity, and abundant wealth, but the majority of them suffer from economic decline, the inability to capitalize on natural and human resources and the inability to achieve food security, aggravated by the lack of optimum management and determination to achieve the goals of cooperation, integration and union, Her Excellency told the conference.

Her Excellency stressed that keeping pace with modernization and modernization in all areas of life requires achieving individuals' economic and self-development. The Islamic world is shackled by its poverty and ignorance that thwart progress despite having a religion that inspires cooperation and unity as a Muslim nation, as well as enormous and on-hand natural and human resources, Her Excellency said.

The OIC parliaments need to act under the Sharia mandate requirements and devise projects, plans and strategies to achieve development and modernization as an economic bloc, Her Excellency said, calling for OIC governments to adopt the proposals of their parliaments, and work together to implement them.

Her Excellency said the meeting coincides with an explosive situation in Palestine following the dangerous escalation led by the occupation entity's far-right government in the Palestinian territories and its punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority and people. Her Excellency highlighted in this context the Israeli ministers and settlers' storming of the Al Aqsa Mosque courtyards and the West Bank cities that killed many Palestinians.

The State of Qatar expresses deep sorrow and grief over the Palestinian lives that are being claimed daily, condemns the occupation forces' heinous crimes, and calls on the international community to provide the necessary protection for the Palestinian people, and to ensure that the historical and religious status of the Al Aqsa Mosque and the holy Islamic and Christian sites are not compromised and to guarantee that the occupation entity crimes will not go unpunished, Her Excellency told the conference.

Her Excellency renewed the firm position of the State of Qatar and its people on the justice of the Palestinian cause and the legitimate rights of the brotherly Palestinian people to establish their independent state on the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Denouncing the unacceptable transgressions against Islam and its sanctities, HE the Deputy Speaker of the Shura Council denounced said that the desecration of the Noble Qur'an by extremists in a number of countries that claim pluralism and respect for human rights under the protection of the authorities is not the last anti-Islam transgressions.

Condemning and rejecting these criminal behaviors as catalysts for extremism, terrorism, hate speech and intolerance, Her Excellency demanded that the conference include a closing statement clause calling on the international community to enact legislation condemning contempt of religions, criminalizing insulting religious symbols, and preventing the broadcast of hate speech and religious intolerance.

The Conference of Union of Councils of the OIC member states seeks to unify the efforts of the Islamic world to strengthen its position internationally, amid the geopolitical and economic conditions that are dominated by instability.