Madar (Antalya) - President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani on Friday, November 13, 2026 received the Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, at his residence in the Turkish city of Antalya, on the sidelines of his participation in the Antalya leaders' summit, held as part of the 31st Conference of the Parties on climate change (COP31), the Mauritanian News Agency (AMI) reported.
The meeting was attended by the minister heading the President's office, Nani Ould Chrougha, and Mauritania's ambassador to Türkiye, according to the same source, which gave no details on the content of the talks.
The meeting follows the election of Ould Cheikh Ahmed, a Mauritanian, as the organisation's secretary general by consensus of member states. On September 11, the foreign ministry honoured him in Nouakchott on the occasion, with Foreign Minister Mohamed Salem Ould Merzoug saying it "reflects growing confidence in Mauritania and its diplomacy". Ould Cheikh Ahmed pledged at the time to improve the organisation's performance, strengthen its governance and defend common causes.
At the 52nd session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in Baghdad on October 17, Mauritania renewed its call for member states to expand contributions to the OIC fund supporting youth employment in the Sahel and the Lake Chad basin, saying it was working with the general secretariat to hold the fund's founding general assembly in Nouakchott.
President Ghazouani is attending the Antalya leaders' summit, where he called in his address for "easily accessible" climate finance, and met Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso on Wednesday.
