The Islamic Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) has held the 10th meeting of its Board of Directors headed by H.E Sheikh Saleh Kamel on Friday 20 August, 2010 in Hilton Hotel, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in the presence of the assistant secretaries and heads of the Islamic chambers of commerce and industry in the OIC member countries, including Mr. Ahmed Al-Wakeel, Chairman of the Federation of Egypt Chambers of Commerce, Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim, Chairman of Qatar Chamber of Commerce & Industry (QCCI), Abdullah Sultan Abdullah, Secretary General of Federation of UAE Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FCCIUAE), Engineer Fahad Mohammad Al-Salmy, President of Council for Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Hamza Mahmoud Ramadan, Kuwait Chamber of Commerce $ Industry (KCCI), Mr. Rifa’at, Head of Union Of Chambers Of Commerce And Commodity Exchanges Of Turkey (TOBB), Nael Kabariti, President of Jordan Chamber of Commerce, Atao Sofiano, Head of Benin Chamber, and Observer from OIC.

H.E Sheikh Saleh Kamel, President of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce & Industry inaugurated the meeting and welcomed the members, hailing the large attendance of the participating delegates. He also expressed his sorrow of the absence of the Iranian and Palestinian delegates because of the visa procedures which prevented them from attending the meeting. Then members of the executive bureau were elected as follows:

Mr. Rifa’at, Head of Union Of Chambers Of Commerce And Commodity Exchanges Of Turkey (TOBB) as Vice President.

Mr. Ahmed Al-Wakeel, Chairman of the Federation of Egypt Chambers of Commerce as Vice President.

Dr. Abdul Sattar Eshra- Egypt- as Rapporteur.

Before beginning the meeting agenda, Sheikh Saleh Kamel suggested the appointment of the Secretary-General of the Chamber, so he chose one of the international Muslim figures who deserves to hold this position namely; Dr. Bassem Awadallah, former minister of planning in Jordan and Chief of the Royal Hashemite Court of Jordan. Then, H.E Dr. Awadallah joined the meeting.

The meeting items were concentrating on several issues including: Standing on what has been implemented from the resolutions of 26th General Assembly Meeting and the 9th meeting of the ICCI board of Directors that were held on 5- 6 April, 2010 in Doha, State of Qatar and the criteria of accepting the membership of the chambers of commerce as an observer in the Islamic chambers in countries with Muslim minorities. With regard to the 44th session of the financial committee, the Chairman of the Committee read out the report. And after discussing, the Board of Directors adopted the report.

Taking advantage of the presence of the majority of board members, H.E the President, referred to the meeting of Resource Development Committee that was elected during Qatar meeting, which discussed how to generate financial resources for the Islamic Chamber through three topics: Export center, some exhibitions and the Golden Book project.

Dr. Ahmed Mohiuddin, Assistant Secretary General for Economic Affairs said that the Golden Book will be an integrated directory in the Islamic economics and it will serve one of the most important goals of the Chamber to promote the significance of the economic exchange. He added that the book will be published in 1000 hard copies and 3000 electronic copies. The Board approved and adopted this project, and the President called for the importance of beginning in the implementation of it.

Halal certificate, the Islamic Chamber is the only body in charge of the issuance of Halal certificate in cooperation with the local chambers.

The Chamber’s Waqf (endowment) that has been initiated by Ismail Abou Daowd. Sheikh Saleh urged the member chambers to pay any sums to this Waqf.

Kamel pointed out the importance of unifying efforts for the sake of the development of the Chamber’s resources.

The meeting tackled the Chamber’s future events in 2011 including training program in cooperation with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and meeting on food security and another on the private sector.

With regard to the 27th General Assembly meeting, the Board of Directors agreed to hold the 27th General Assembly meeting in April 2011.

The meeting concluded its works with directing the highest regards to the Chairman for his good management of the meeting and approved on submitting the report to the ICCI’s 27th General Assembly meeting.

The first conference of Business Owners Union (BOU) held in Jeddah, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the period 20 – 21 August concluded its works in the presence of over 500 businessmen and businesswomen in the OIC countries. It had been attended by H.E Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu,Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Sheikh Saleh Abdullah Kamel, President of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Dr. Ahmed Mohammed Ali, president of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), in addition to large participation from mega trade, industrial and service companies, heads of 17 banks and financial institutions, and heads of chambers of commerce and industry in the Islamic countries.

On the sidelines of the conference, an exhibition had been organized for displaying the Islamic products. Many Islamic countries participated in it including: Egypt, Turkey, Malaysia, Yemen, Bahrain, Jordan, Palestine, Iran, Afghanistan ,Kazakhstan, Sudan, Mauritania, Uganda, Bangladesh,Albania, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

At the opening of the Conference, H.E Sheikh Saleh Kamel, President of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce& Industry and Chairman of Business Owners Union in the OIC member States, welcomed the attendees, saying in his speech: "since 2006, I have sought to adopt the scientific approach and sound planning in the Islamic Chamber, So we have managed to develop ten-year work plan in broad lines. And to achieve these goals, we tailored them into objectives and, implementing mechanisms. The key pillar in preparing the plan is the common interests since they are the language of the times and the real tongue of every man pursues success."

Dr. Ahmed Mohammed Ali, president of the Islamic Development Bank delivered speech, saying that this conference came in a time the whole world suffers from the global economic downturn. So the IDB believes that the business community should assume the responsibility of supporting the Islamic nation in facing the difficulties of these crises and also prepare itself for encountering any possible emerging challenges. He gave three detailed explanation for three challenges related to promotion of investment, employment of young people and the elimination of unemployment and poverty, including: food security, investment and intra-trade, and the framework of partnerships and collective work.

Dr. Ali called on businessmen in the OIC countries to exert efforts and develop proposals and initiatives in vital fields in the life of the Islamic Ummah. He shed light on three axes related to the response to what crisis bear of opportunities and challenges. The first focuses on creativity and innovation to encourage the economic growth by using developmental alternatives in investment in infrastructure and intra-trade in the OIC Member States. The second revolves on the role of business community in immunizing the poor from the impacts of the financial crises and climate change, in addition to reliving the victim of fragility and disputes. The third axis concentrates on enhancing competitiveness, enriching partnerships by attracting institutions from the international emerging economic powers.

For his part, H.E Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), said that the convention of the first annual BOU conference in the OIC countries synchronized with the Organization's review of the mid-term of its ten-year work program that was adopted at the Extraordinary Islamic Summit Conference held in Makkah Al Mukarramah in 2005, and this by turn gave the conference special importance.

"The main activities endorsed in the economic agenda of the OIC are enhancing the intra-Islamic trade, achieving wealth inside the Organization's countries, alleviating poverty, building capacity, encouraging investment, developing infrastructure so as to meet the need to promoting cooperation among south-south countries, focusing on improving the performance of the national economies of the Member States."

BOU called for giving due attention to the necessity of forming broader membership represents the business sector as a whole in the Islamic countries through the participation of the federation and chambers in planning and implementing the OIC's activities including the institutions involved in economic cooperation , key among them is the Standing Committee of Trade and Economic Cooperation (COMCEC).

Four working sessions had been held during the conference which concluded its works on Saturday 21 August. The attendees tackled the role of their countries and the affiliated companies in enhancing the volume of intra-trade and increasing the national product for each city in the countries of the Organization of Islamic Conference. They also talked about their countries' contributions to the studies, researches, encouraging inventions and innovation, and marketing the investment projects and business agencies.

It is worthy to mention that Business Owners Union is one of the most important mechanisms of the Islamic Chamber that aimed at building umbrella for businessmen and private sector in the OIC countries and Muslim minorities and communities to encourage investments, develop intra-trade and coordinate the policies and trade and investment activities in order to employ the youth of the nation and thus reduce unemployment and increase the gross national product of Islamic countries.