| |
DAMASCUS, SANA –The Conference of Tourism Ministers of the member states of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) have adopted a framework of development and cooperation in the tourism field with the aim of identifying means and methods of implementation of the work programs in the tourism field for enhancing economic and trade cooperation among them.
Wrapping up the 6th session of the Conference on Wednesday, the conference issued Damascus Declaration on which it called for developing new national and Islamic productions and programs for cultural and Islamic tourism across the Islamic countries which includes integrated cultural factors to be marketed through the establishment of tourism gate on the Internet.
The conference stressed the necessity for the establishment of investment projects in the Islamic countries, organizing meetings and symposiums for the investors in the private sector and circles concerned with tourist investment.
It also underlined the necessity for cooperation and coordination among the member states in simplifying the issuance of visas and customs procedures in enhancing tourism and transport among the OIC countries.
Damascus Declaration called on all Islamic tourist circles to exert efforts for promotion of the true and civilized image of Islam and its principles based on tolerance and coexistence, inviting the foreign media men to visit the Islamic countries and convey what they see through their countries' media.
It called on for establishment of a center for the civilized image of the Islamic countries on the Internet to show the civilized image of Islamic world abroad.
It also underlined the importance of inviting the main tourists exporting countries which are issuing warnings for its citizens to be accurate, just and objective and not to be biased or exploiting it for political motivations regarding these warnings.
Participants in the conference described it as "a factor in strengthening tourist relations among the Islamic countries and showing the real image of the Islamic world".
They said that Syria possesses great tourist potential, calling for increasing tourist investment with Syria.
On the participation of the Palestinian delegation in the conference, they described it as very important because of the difficulty of encouraging tourist in the occupied Palestinian territories under the instable political situation , expressing the Arab and Islamic support to the Palestinian issue. They called on for putting pressures on Israel to eliminate the obstacles that face a free tourist movement in the occupied territories.
They also called for exchanging expertise, information and ideas in the field of tourist marketing and training cadres who are working in the tourist domain.
H.Zain/ Idelbi
|
|
