The “Model OIC International Relations (IR) Academy” project, which has been successfully implemented in Azerbaijan for 11 years, has been started once again. The first lecture program of the project is organized by the Eurasian Regional Center of Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum (ICYF-ERC) in partnership with Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

At the opening ceremony Acting Director General of ICYF-ERC Mr. Vusal Gurbanov first thanked the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Azerbaijan as a partner of the project, as well as Baku State University for its organizational support during the program. Then, Mr. Gurbanov gave detailed information about the project’s goals and lecture topics. He noted that young people selected from hundreds of applied students and representing different universities of Azerbaijan as Baku State University, Academy of Public Administration, Azerbaijan University of Languages etc. will take part in weekly lectures for 2 months and then in the “Model OIC” Council of Foreign Ministers simulation.

Further, the Vice Rector for International Relations of Baku State University Mr. Shahin Panahov praised the cooperation between the university and ICYF-ERC within this program. The representative of Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum (ICYF) Mr. Yunus Cholak joined the program in an online format and informed participants about the International Model OIC.

Then, the guest lecturers of the program, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Palestine to Azerbaijan, Mr. Nasser Abdul Karim Abdul Rahim and Vice Rector of ADA University, Mr. Fariz Ismayilzade accordingly made a presentation on “Muslim World and Palestinian Issue” and “Modern Diplomacy and the role of Azerbaijani diplomacy in the Karabakh War”. During the program, lecturers answered various questions of participants.

It should be noted that, the main objectives of the Model OIC IR Academy project are to support the strengthening of international cooperation among the OIC youth, to help young people and members of youth organizations in gaining new knowledge and experience in diplomacy, management and communication. After two months of lectures, students will take part in the Model OIC Council of Foreign Ministers simulation. At the end, selected participants with foreign language skills and specific abilities will get the chance to represent Azerbaijan in the International Model OIC.

Over the past years, Azerbaijani students several times have represented our country in the “International Model OIC” simulations, which covered the whole OIC space and attended by representatives of more than 40 OIC member countries. This year, ICYF-ERC also plans to organize the Model OIC IR Academy project in Pakistan, Republic of Tatarstan (Russia), Indonesia and Central Asian countries.