KUWAIT-- Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah headed Kuwait's delegation participating in the 49th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Member States of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), held in Nouakchott, Mauritania, between March 16-17.

Addressing the meeting, which focuses on the Palestinian issue, counterterrorism, Islamophobia and solidarity, the foreign minister said the gathering comes at a time when the Islamic world is facing numerous serious challenges amid complicated circumstances, bloody wars, disasters and pandemics across the world.

The minister stressed that these unprecedented challenges, which portend a new stage of many hardships, require concerted efforts and Islamic response.

"Given the enormity of these hardships and challenges, we need to muster our efforts, harness our energies and unify our stances and policies. Thus, we would raise the hopes of our peoples who have suffered due to despair and oppression amid the absence of a sincere international will to ensure the just solution to their just issues in spite of binding international resolutions which, unfortunately, have mostly become mere ink on paper," he lamented.

Therefore, the Kuwaiti foreign minister called for developing a clear-cut and comprehensive vision for boosting Islamic cooperation, based on setting aside divisions and differences regarding response to these risks and challenges.

In this context, Sheikh Abdullah Al-Jaber said the Palestinian issue is considered to be the prime issue for both Arab and Muslim worlds, warning that the region would not be stable, secure and prosperous unless a just and comprehensive solution to this issue was reached.

Regarding Islamophobia and campaigns purposed to undermine the religion of Islam and its values of tolerance and peace, the minister said it is everyone's due responsibility to protect and defend Islam and promote its genuine image.

Commending the OIC's great efforts to fight Islamophobia, the minister voiced hope that the meeting would come up with concerted stances and visions for overcoming challenges the Islamic world is facing.