Participants in the preparatory meeting of senior staff for the 26th conference of the Islamic foreign ministers expressed thanks and appreciation for the generous care, patronage and unlimited support the Organization of Islamic Conference was receiving from the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to fulfill its Islamic duty.

The meeting, which wound up its deliberations today, forwarded a number of recommendations to the Islamic foreign ministers' conference scheduled for Ogado, Burkina Faso, from 24 to 28 May 1999.

The meeting, presided over by Burkina Faso's ambassador to the Kingdom Omer Diwara, condemned the Serb aggression against the innocents of Kosovo.

The meeting drew the attention of Muslim minorities in foreign nations and requested the OIC to put more emphasis on this issue.

The meeting extended support to the nomination of Dr Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United Kingdom and Ireland, for the post of Secretary General of UNESCO; renewal of the candidature of Dr Jacques Diouf as Director General of the FAO; the nomination of Oan Al-Khasawna for the post of Judge at the International Justice Court; nomination of Othman Al-Sayed Fadl for the post of Assistant Secretary General of the OAU as representative of East Africa; and Maj. General Mohammed Abbas Mansouras as a member of the International Committee for Drug Control and Monitor.