October 07, 2006	Saturday	Ramazan 13, 1427

JEDDAH, Oct 6: The Organisation of Islamic Conference member states intends to introduce open business visa policy by the end of the year for established business people, President of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) Sheikh Saleh Kamel was quoted in Saudi press on Friday as saying.

Under the new visa system, businessmen who are members of business communities in a Muslim country will be able to obtain open visas to travel to any of the 57 member countries for business and investment reasons.

The implementation of the new visa scheme has been scheduled for the end of the year, as the consent of a few OIC member countries to the scheme was still awaited.

The scheme was adopted in line with the decisions of the OIC’s 33rd conference held in Baku last June. Most of the Islamic countries have already signed up the document.

With the intra-OIC trade still at meagre levels, there is an urgent need to promote trade and investment within the 57-member bloc. If the OIC members could strengthen their economic and trade relations, it may help in alleviating the problems of the Muslims in a big way.

In this regard, the two-day just concluded ICCI session in Jeddah reiterated its commitment to implement the 10-year OIC plan to promote trade within the bloc.

The Islamic chamber also announced plans to set up a special endowment to take care of its humanitarian activities. It has already collected $277 million, as part of a $1 billion fund to help rehabilitate the victims of wars and calamities in Muslim countries.

The fund could also be utilised for reconstruction of Lebanon.

The two-day ICCI meeting was attended by 90 heads of Islamic Chambers and notable businessmen from member countries. Established in 1977, the ICCI endeavours to promote business activities within the 57 member countries of the Organisation of Islamic Conference, particularly in the private sector of the group.