The Tax Ombudsman of Pakistan, Dr. Asif Jah got elected as Secretary General of OICOA in its 9th Board of Directors and 3rd General Assembly meeting which was organised by OICOA Secretariat Islamabad, held in Istanbul .
The elected President Chief Ombudsman of Turkiye, Mr. Seref Malkoc hosted the event and welcomed the Board of directors and members of General assembly meeting thanked them for their enthusiastic response to the invitation for this event and showed full participation and confidence to strengthen the communication network among Ombudsmen Association . He appreciated efforts of Dr. Asif Mehmood Jah (Tax Ombudsman) to bring the Association from Formation to Operational Stage.
Pakistan took initiative of promoting institutions in Muslim world at the 39th session of the OICOA council Foreign Ministers in 2012 establishing networking of ombudsman institutions in the OIC member states .As a result , OIC Ombudsman Association was founded in Islamabad, in 2014.The Federal Tax Ombudsman of Pakistan hosts OICOA Secretariat.
For his vision and leadership to promote concepts of ombudsmanship, Dr. Jah got elected as “General Secretary” of OIC Ombudsman for a four year term in the meeting.
Secretary General OICOA thanked and paid his heartfelt regard to the colleagues who reposed trust upon the Board members in the past and he assured, that, “In future too, me and my colleagues would keep on serving this grand Association of Ombudsman brotherhood.
Our main objective is to promote the concept of ombudsmanship at national and international level and also to exchange of information and experiences among the OIC states”. The elected President ,Mr.Sered Malkoc also congratulated Dr.Jah and Secetariat in Islamabad for their commendable efforts. Dr.Jah highlighted that the institution of the Federal Tax Ombudsman Pakistan is pro-active organization with its doors open for aggrieved taxpayers.
Execuitve Secretary General, Mr.Almas Ali Jovindah, convened BOD abd General Assembly meetings and thanked all the 33 participating countries for their cooperation .He also shared that Board has decided that OICOA secretariat will be providing internships/training programs and disseminate information and research data about the all the memberinstitutions. Board of Director OICOA approved the proposal to host the next Board of members meeting in Pakistan on the Celebration of it’s 10th Anniversary in the month of January 2024.All the members graciously accepted the offer. During the meeting, another important decision was taken that the training programs should be a permanent feature for the capacity building of OICOA Institution. Exchange Internship program among member countries was decided to be launched by engaging young candidates with immediate effect in order to bring them to International level standards.
The President of the Association, Hon’ble Chief Ombudsman Turkey, congratulated the Members of the Board of directors OICOA. He thanked all the Members for electing Turkey as the President of the Association unanimously. He also congratulated Iran for being elected as Vice-President, Pakistan as Secretary General and other Board Members Azerbaijan, Morocco and Bahrain and Indonesia. He hoped to work together in harmony with more vigour for the promotion of this institution in the Islamic world. He wished for the success of the Members in performing important duties in their respective countries as well as for the Association.