By: Nyima Sillah
The Spokesman of the United Democratic Party (UDP),Almamy Fanding Taal, said the OIC summit’sattendance was not first-rate.
“The attendance was not first-rate. We have our neighbors to thank, whose presidents created time to come and witness the summit, which is good neighborliness but the expectation was that the larger Ummah and the major countries of the Ummah like the Turkey, Saudi, Iran, and Pakistan, at least, could have come at a very high level,” assessed Taal.
He pointed out that Malaysia and Indonesia were the biggest countries of the Ummah in terms of participants.
“Their absence took away some of the glitters and glamour that attended other summits and in that regard, it is something that we cannot minimize or diminish,” he added.
Taal pointed out that Saudi’s absence was “really” not a positive message as they have been the biggest champion of the summit wherever it is held.
“I don’t know what was responsible for it and whether we ourselves took it for granted and did not spend as much time as we should on their participation because just for solidarity sake,whoever at the highest level whether is Muhammad Bin Salman himself; the Crown Prince, he could have attended just the opening ceremony and fly back same day,” Taal told The Voice in an interview on Monday.
According to him, it would have been possible to make arrangements for higher-profile figures to attend the summit as it is just matter of hours but was quick to add that the world is in the throes of major conflicts, which could have been the reason that prevented countries like Turkey, Syria, Egypt and other major countries from participating.
“Rather than dwelling on the absences, we pick up from here and continue the agenda for more peace during the chairmanship of the OIC by The Gambia because it was just two days’ meeting, where heads of state and governments would converge and come up with a declaration or a communiqué. So, attending it would really add glitters and glamour to it,especially from the major Islamic countries but I don’t think it’s the end of the world. I think we should repurpose our own diplomatic orientation and see how we can do economic diplomacy more than this ideological diplomacy,” he asserted.
Commenting further on the summit, Mr.Taal stated that the opportunity to host the OIC summit is once in a life time and once in a generation opportunity, adding that the next thing to do is to work on the legacies that could come from the chairmanship of the Islamic community by Adama President Barrow.