(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) A three-member delegation from the Philippines' government is due to attend an annual gathering of foreign ministers of Muslim countries Wednesday, according to officials.
The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process said in a statement that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) invitation showed that the bloc of Muslim countries recognizes the government's peace efforts in Muslim majority southern Mindanao island.
"The invitation acknowledges the efforts and commitments of the present administration to finally solve the problem of Muslim Filipinos in Mindanao," the office's undersecretary Jose Lorena said.
The invitation to attend the 42nd Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers in Kuwait on May 27-28 was extended to Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario by OIC Secretary-General Iyad bin Amin Madani.
The Philippine delegation will include Lorena, Department of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis and National Commission on Muslim Filipinos Secretary Yasmin Busran-Lao.
The chairman of the country's one-time largest Muslim rebel group - the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) - Murad Ebrahim has also been invited to deliver a speech before the foreign ministers.
The MILF inked a peace deal with the government in March last year to bring an end to 17 years of negotiations and a decades-old armed conflict, while granting Muslims greater political autonomy.
Senior leaders of the MILF and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) € from which the MILF broke away in 1977 € are expected to hold a meeting on the sidelines of the event in Kuwait. Both groups are part of the Bangsamoro Coordination Forum, which was created by the OIC to harmonize the two Moro fronts.
The invitation to the gathering in Kuwait is an offshoot of Madani's visit to the Philippines in April, when he met President Benigno Aquino III to discuss ways in which the OIC could help the Bangsamoro peace process.
During his visit, Madani had held meetings with legislators working on the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, which will legalize the creation of a new Bangsamoro region to replace the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Mandani had called on lawmakers not to dilute the proposed measure, saying it is part of the process to find a political solution addressing the root causes of the Mindanao conflict.
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