ISESCO, International Turkic Academy sign MoU

Source: ISESCO.

A Memorandum of Understanding was co-signed between the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) and the International Turkic Academy in Baku, Azerbaijan, alongside the plenary session of ISESCO 12th General Conference.


The MoU was co-signed for ISESCO by its Director General, Dr Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri, and for the International Turkic University by its President, Dr Darkhan Kydyrali. It provides for cooperation to drive progress in the areas of education, science, culture and communication, promote mutual understanding between peoples, contribute to peace and security, stimulate research in areas of common interest, and ramp up support for national and regional efforts toward sustainable development goals.

OIC benchmarking study identifies areas that could improve economies

The fifty-seven countries that form the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) account for 23% of the world's population, but under 11% of the world's GDP. These results, part of a benchmarking study from the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management and the Saudi Arabia-based Madinah Institute for Leadership and Entrepreneurship (MILE), were revealed on June 24. 

The study aims to better understand the factors which underlie the economic performance of the world's Muslim economies. Working with a group of Rotman MBA students including Abhishek Chaudhary, MBA'14; Omer Saleem Morning MBA'15; and Ash Zare, Evening MBA'15, Professor Walid Hejazi from the Rotman School and Imran Zawwar from MILE benchmarked the fifty-seven OIC countries on over 100 indicators, finding that countries such as the UAE, Bahrain, and Qatar rank among the world's best economies on many dimensions, and Malaysia and Turkey on others. In countries with significant poverty, there are also significantly higher probabilities of self-employment.

Researchers also found that the OIC countries:

• have average incomes which are less than half the world average;
• rank below global averages on institutional development, including voice and accountability, political stability, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption (World Bank Governance Indicators);
• rank unfavourably on the ease of doing business;
• lag world averages on literacy and education, particularly among females;
• while not lagging world averages on labour market participation rates for males, there is a significant gap for females; and,
• lag other developing nations on R&D efforts.

"Together these factors are capable of explaining a large part of the gap between incomes in the Muslim world and the developed world. The implications of these analyses underscore the need for efforts to improve these indicators across the Muslim world," says Prof. Hejazi. 

"We hope our systematic and comprehensive analysis will allow for the creation of well-informed and feasible policies to enhance the economic performance of the world's Muslim countries. As is well known, as incomes rise and countries develop, institutions tend to improve, resulting in improvements in political stability, human rights and a whole host of other indicators."

The study is the first from a collaboration between MILE and Rotman. More reports are planned for release over the next year.