By Saad Abdel Meguid, IOL Turkey correspondent

ISTANBUL, October 27 (IslamOnline) - Eleven Islamic countries, out of 45 members of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), agreed to form a customs union between them. This came after 12 years of discussions concerning the forming of this union.

Ahmad Kanaan, the Turkish Minister of Trade and Commerce, declared after the 18th meeting of the Committee of Commercial and Economical Cooperation affiliated to the OIC in Istanbul, and which was held between October 23 and 25, that the agreement will be carried out after two months.

“The custom agreement is aiming at preventing and revealing the obstacles stand against trade among the Islamic countries. The tariff was one of these obstacles” Kanaan said.

“The Islamic Bank for Development agreed on allocating an additional billion dollars to apply the customs agreement,” Ahmad Gafaar Oghloo, the manager of international relations in Turkish planning authority, said.

Aveen Izmir Oghlo, a consultant in the planning authority, said that the meetings of the Islamic Commercial Committee decided to hold the first Islamic fair for tourists in Istanbul at the beginning of 2003.

He also said that the OIC members agreed on continuing efforts that aim to establish and form an Islamic stock exchange market.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Commercial and Economical Committee decided to provide financial aid to 14 Islamic countries including Palestine, Uganda, Somalia, Azerbaijan, Guinea, and Sierra Leone.