Asharq AL-awsat
Morocco’s parliament Speaker Habib el-Malki revealed that Iran’s disregard of the regulations of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) led to its failure to attend the 14th session of Parliamentary Union of OIC Member States (PUIC), which was held in Rabat on March 10-14.
Speaking at a press conference to present the outcomes of the meeting, Malki, who was elected the President of the PUIC, explained: “Iran did not respect the rules in force in order to take part in the meeting.”
He said that Tehran insisted on participating with a large delegation of 30 to 40 members, in contrast to other countries that honored conditions set by Rabat in agreement with the PUIC secretariat.
Malki added that he had asked the OIC general secretariat to intercede with member countries to reduce the number of their delegates and Iran was the only country that did not comply.
Even though the Union failed to issue a final communique, the speaker said the meeting was successful.
He explained that the Executive Committee agreed on not issuing a final statement given that in previous meetings, a number of issues created differences and did not lead to unified stances.
In addition, Malki admitted that the concluding statement is difficult to implement and had an impact on the credibility of the OIC.
He asserted that during the current sessions, OIC member countries are keen on strengthening the Union, maintaining its unity and bolstering it as an independent organization not affiliated to any party or state.
He called on the representatives of member states to respect the parameters and rules of the PUIC, adding that the organization should not be involved in differences based on the positions of the country they represent.
The law that determines the multilateral organizations’ activity stipulates that member states must avoid all points of disagreement to avoid weakening the group, he added, saying that this will have a negative impact on the OIC.
Some delegations believe “they should impose their national positions on certain issues that are not agreed on by others,” he stated.
“We have to work with the logic of a multilateral organization,” he stressed.
