OIC plan of action: Intra-Islamic trade to be increased from 16 to 20 percent by 2015

The intra-Islamic trade has to be increased from current 16 percent to 20 percent by the year 2015. This was stated by Assistant Secretary-General of the Islamic Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), Mrs Attiya Nawazish Ali, at the four-day workshop on coffee processing held in Kampala, Uganda, from October 5 to 8, according to a message received here on Friday.
The ICCI has also been mandated to train the chambers of commerce in upgrading their skills, management techniques and through best practices to play a more important role in trade promotion. ICCI, an affiliate institution of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) based in Karachi, is undertaking initiatives to address issues related to poverty alleviation and capacity building of 57 OIC member countries, she said.
She said that most of the OIC countries, despite the fact that they are producers of raw material, are not fully benefiting from their indigenous resources because of lack of expertise in value-addition. In order to address this issue, she said, ICCI has been organising programs where training is being provided on how to 'value-add' for better resource generation.
As part of the said initiative, ICCI had organised the workshop with the support of Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and in collaboration with Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UNCCI) and the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA). The workshop was inaugurated by Engr Gagawala Wambuzi, Minister of State for Trade of Uganda, and was attended by 60 trainees from Uganda in addition to four member countries, namely Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Yemen, the main producers of coffee in African countries.
Uganda produces 20 percent of the total OIC share and exports it in a raw form at approximately one dollar per kg, and re-imports the processed commodity at approximately $7 per kg. ICCI is, therefore, trying to help the business community to fully benefit from their natural resources through value-addition and capacity building. The objective of the workshop was to build capacity and to facilitate value-addition for coffee entrepreneurs.
The ICCI had organised a training program on 'Chamber Management' for the staff of African member chambers in Kampala from October 9 to 12 in collaboration with UNCCI and International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (IITFC)/Islamic Development Bank. The training program was attended by 27 trainees from Uganda, Benin, Cameroon, Djibouti, Gambia and Sudan.
The idea of the training program was to enable the chambers of commerce and industry of African countries to offer a wider variety and higher quality of services top their chambers, so that the African chambers can play a more instrumental role in the development of private sector in their respective countries, which result in trade promotion amongst OIC countries.