Organization of the Islamic Conference

The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) headquartered in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia is an inter-governmental organization with a Permanent Delegation to the United Nations. Formed in 1968, it groups 57 nations, most of which are Islamic states, or have large Islamic populations, in the Middle East, North, West and Southern Africa, Central Asia, Europe, Southeast Asia, South Asia and South America. It is the second largest international organization after the United Nations. The official languages of the organization are Arabic, English and French.

Non-Islamic nations do appoint envoys to it. U.S. President George W. Bush named the first U.S. representative, Sada Cumber, in 2001. Deputy White House Counsel Rashad Hussain was named, in 2010, by President Barack Obama during a video address to the 7th U.S.-Islamic World Forum meeting in Doha, Qatar. There are observers from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Central African Republic, Thailand, Russia and the Turkish Cypriot State.