Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos, who is also UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, signed the agreement with Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the Secretary-General of the OIC, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Ms. Amos said the agreement would formalize existing plans to cooperate more with OIC to save lives at a time of growing humanitarian emergencies in the region.

The agreement includes a framework for regular dialogue and information exchanges between the OIC and the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).