OIC/COMCEC/36-20/REP
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& Tourism Sector and the various ways of economic recovery. After providing
some insights about the current situation in tourism and travel sector particularly
on negative effects of pandemic on these sectors, Mr. POOLE elaborated on the
private sector recommendations on promoting entrepreneurship in tourism
sector.
26. Following the presentation of Mr. Jeff POOLE, the Exchange of Views Session
of the 36th Session of the COMCEC was held with the theme of “Promoting
Entrepreneurship for Tourism Industry Competitiveness”.
27.Within this framework, the Ministers and Heads of Delegations of the Member
Countries made statements and interventions on their country experiences with
regards to promoting entrepreneurship for tourism industry competitiveness
in their respective countries. In this respect, the y emphasized the crucial role
of tourism industry in global and national economies since it is closely
interlinked with the other sectors such as transportation and agriculture. They
also underlined that some member countries are heavily dependent on tourism
and suffered tremendously from the Pandemic. In the presentations, several
crucial issues were also highlighted such as developing global tourism brands
from the OIC region, supporting SMEs which are the backbone of the tourism
sector, promoting tourism entrepreneurship, taking necessary precautions for
compensating for loss of millions of job due to COVID Pandemic, adopting the
tourism sector to new hygiene norms, new certifications and insurance schemes,
disseminating digitalization and providing financial support programs to
individual entrepreneurs, tax exemptions and credit support programs.
28. During the Closing Session, the Resolution OIC/COMCEC/36-../RES. was
adopted.
29. Afterwards, H.E. Khaled OSAILY, Minister of National Economy of Palestine
made a statement on behalf of all participating states. H.E. Khaled OSAILY
extended his gratitude to the OIC and CCO for the efforts towards the promotion
of cooperation among the member states and for the success of the meeting
despite the pandemic. H.E. Khaled OSAILY underlined the importance of
electronic platforms and digitalization for the effective communication during
the pandemic, and solidarity as well as cooperation for overcoming the negative
effects of pandemic.
30. H.E. Fuat OKTAY, Vice President of the Republic of Turkey, delivered a
closing statement. H.E. OKTAY underlined the importance of global food
security by stating that 690 million people have lack of food and 130 million
additional people are under the risk of being pushed to the edge of starvation by
the end of the year 2020. H.E. OKTAY drew attention to the fact that these
figures may worsen if the pandemic continues and stressed the importance of
supporting the programs and projects launched by OIC institutions as a response
to the negative repercussions of the Pandemic, including the COMCEC COVID
Response Program.