The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) was established in Rabat, Morocco on 25 September 1969 as a result of the criminal arson perpetrated by Zionist elements against Al-Aqsa Mosque, in occupied Jerusalem on 21 August 1969. At the First Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers in March 1970 in Jeddah, a General Secretariat was established to liase and coordinate actions of member states. Jeddah was also chosen as the headquarters of the Organisation pending the liberation of Jerusalem. At the Third Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICFM) in February 1972, the Ministers adopted a Charter to strengthen solidarity and cooperation among Islamic states in the political, economic, cultural, scientific and social fields.

The OIC composed of the following main bodies:

• The Islamic Summit Conference (ISC); is the supreme authority of the OIC which meets every three years to lay down the Organization's policy

• The Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICFM); meets once a year to examine the implementation of its decisions taken within the framework of the policy defined by the Summit

• The General Secretariat; the executive organ of the OIC entrusted with the implementation of the decisions of the two preceding bodies

To coordinate its action in the various fields of cooperation: political, economic, cultural, social, spiritual and scientific, among Member States, the Organization has created different committees at ministerial level and a number of which are chaired by heads of state such as The Al-Quds Committee, the Standing Committee for Information and Cultural Affairs (COMIAC), the Standing Committee for Economic and Trade Cooperation (COMCEC) and the Standing Committee for Scientific and Technical Cooperation (COMSTECH).

The current chairman of the OIC Summit is Malaysia, while the chairmanship of the ICFM is rotated annually with the host country.

The official website of the OIC is at: www.oic-oci.org   
 
Brunei Darussalam's role in OIC
Brunei Darussalam became a full member of the OIC in January 1984 at the Fourth Islamic Summit held in Morocco which was attended by His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam.

As an Islamic country, one of the aims of Brunei Darussalam's membership in the OIC is to work closely with other OIC members in promoting Islamic interests and values for the benefit of the Islamic Ummah. Through this, Brunei Darussalam can also strengthen its political and economic ties with them.

In the political arena, Brunei Darussalam has been consistently supportive of the OIC's efforts in solving the Palestinian problem, including the question of Al-Quds Al-Sharif. Together with other OIC members, Brunei Darussalam also supports every effort towards a comprehensive settlement of the Middle East problems.

Since its membership, Brunei Darussalam has been actively participating in the various meetings of the Organisation, including Summits, Ministerial meetings and meetings of its subsidiary organs and the various expert groups. His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam has attended several OIC Summits and the most recent one was the 10th Islamic Summit held in Puterajaya, Malaysia in 2003.

As a member of the Organisation, Brunei Darussalam is consistently paying its mandatory contribution to the OIC General Secretariat and its subsidiary organs at the current rate of 3.5% of the assessed total budget as agreed by the 6th Islamic Summit in Dakkar, Senegal. Brunei Darussalam has also been making some voluntary financial contributions to various OIC Funds such as the Islamic Solidarity Fund, Al-Quds Fund, Afghanistan Trust Fund and Sierra Leone Trust Fund.