Ambassador Hesham Youssef, OIC Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian, Social and Cultural Affairs, delivered the speech of the OIC Secretary General, Dr. Yousef Al Othaimeen, in which he highlighted the efforts undertaken by the OIC through its various institutions promoting the role of women in development in the Member States, recalled the progress made in this area and welcomed the spirit of self-denial that characterized women in the Member States, particularly in Palestine where women pay a heavy price due to the oppression of the Israeli occupation. He further reaffirmed the availability of the General Secretariat to work in collaboration with Burkina Faso and the OIC institutions for the success of the 7th Conference on women. The workshop addresses the themes, documents and projects to be submitted to the Seventh Ministerial Conference on the Role of Women in Development to be held on 28 November in Burkina Faso. The workshop brought together representatives of relevant OIC organs and institutions, members of the Advisory Committee on Women as well as a numbers of Burkina Faso's institutions. --SPA 10:59 LOCAL TIME 07:59 GMT 0003 www.spa.gov.sa/w710463