Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended the 38th Ministerial Session of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC) at the Istanbul Congress Center.

Delivering a speech at the meeting, Erdoğan said: “Although our languages, cultures and the lands we are living in differ, we are the members of the same great family. With this characteristic of ours, we, besides our own people, are responsible to all our brothers and sisters wherever they are all across the world. Obviously, as is the case in every family, arguments as well as undesired tensions occur from time to time among us. Issues about which we have different opinions or beliefs may arise. There is no problem as long as we see them as ordinary matters that we face and resolve during the natural order of life. Our brotherhood as the Ummah is strong and capable enough to overcome all kinds of disagreements and differences of opinion.”

Underscoring that the global crisis, which had sparked off with the pandemic, deepened with the increases in energy and commodity prices, and further worsened with hot conflicts, still continued, Erdoğan noted: “Inflation and unemployment rates have hit all time high of the past 50-60 years. Efforts to take inflation under control by increasing interest rates have failed to produce the expected outcomes. Power cuts have become a serious source of concern in many European countries. The problems brought about by the crises in supply chains have only temporarily resolved. All of us are affected, be it slightly or severely, by the economic hardships caused by the high cost of living.”

“Although we as Türkiye successfully manage this process thanks to the measures we have timely taken and the policies we have been pursuing, we feel some of the repercussions as well,” Erdoğan stressed and added: “That expectation of a recession increases all across the world indicates that the light at the end of the tunnel has yet to appear. Advancing our trade and economic cooperation as the Islamic countries will contribute to our efforts aimed at turning the crisis into an opportunity.” (ILKHA)