Russia favors collaboration with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and is interested in developing relations with it, Russian Federation Council (upper house) Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said at a meeting with OIC Secretary-General Yousef bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen.
"The Organization of Islamic Cooperation plays an important role not just in the Islamic world, but in the system of international relations in general. It is no coincidence that it was named the Islamic United Nations," TASS cited Matviyenko as saying.
She recalled that Russia has carried out cooperation with the OIC for 14 years as an observer state. The speaker highlighted that cooperation with the OIC is "of special interest" for multinational and multiconfessional Russia, in which more than 20 million Muslims live.
