Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar will lead the 15th OIC Summit in Banjul, Gambia on May 4 and 5, 2024, stated the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday.

Preceding the summit, Dar is scheduled to attend the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers Meeting, on May 2 and 3, 2024 where agenda items and outcome documents will be finalized.

“Given the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the summit is of particular significance for the Muslim Ummah,” the ministry stated, adding that it presents an opportune moment for the OIC leaders to collectively address the dire situation taking place in Gaza and to assert a unified stance on the Palestinian issue.

During the upcoming summit, the deputy PM will articulate Pakistan’s perspectives on the Gaza crisis, the right to self-determination for the people of Jammu & Kashmir, and the imperative of upholding a sense of unity among the Ummah.

Read OIC calls for ‘unconditional ceasefire’ to prevent further loss of life in Gaza

He will also address global challenges such as rising Islamophobia, climate change, and terrorism while hoping to advocate collective solutions to these problems that the Ummah continues to face.

Alongside the summit, Dar will also engage in bilateral meetings with fellow leaders and foreign ministers, facilitating dialogue and cooperation on shared concerns.

Earlier this year, on February 24, the information ministers of the OIC member states condemned “the ongoing military aggression launched by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people as well as its systematic oppression, massacre, and genocide of Palestinians civilians in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023, and in the occupied West Bank including Al-Quds Al-Sharif, and call for an unconditional cease-fire to prevent further loss of life.”

The OIC reiterated that the “only path to peace and security in the region is through the realisation of the Palestinian people’s inalienable rights, including national independence and sovereignty with East Al-Quds as its capital”.