Jeddah: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) reiterated its support to Qatar’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup 2022. In a statement, the General Secretariat emphasised that organising the 2022 World Cup in Qatar represents an achievement for the OIC member states.
“The OIC is monitoring with concern tendentious campaigns by the western media targeting Qatar and casting doubt on its rights to host the World Cup. We renewed our call to the institutions of Joint Islamic Action and to the media institutions in the member states to stress the right of Qatar to organise the 2022 World Cup, which has been acknowledged and affirmed through resolutions adopted by the forty-second session of the OIC foreign ministers’ conference held in May in Kuwait”, the statement said.
Reiterating its full support for Qatar to host this important sports event and as the first Muslim state ever to play host to such a world event, OIC applauded the level of progress reached in the preparations and welcomed Doha’s continued preparations.
The General Secretariat also stressed the role played by sports in consolidating peace, solidarity, mutuality and social and economic development, as well to the worldwide popularity of the football game as a building block in rapprochement of peoples, boosting development and peace and building interfaith and intercultural bridges. QNA
