Jeddah/ Information Office/ 17 June 2015/ The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) reiterated its support to Qatar's hosting of the FIFA World Cup 2022, calling on all institutions of the Joint Islamic Action and to the media institutions in the Member States to stress the right of the State of Qatar to organize the international tournament. In a statement today, the General Secretariat emphasized that organizing the 2022 World Cup in the State of Qatar represents an achievement for the OIC Member States. According to the Statement, the OIC is monitoring with concern the western media tendentious campaigns targeting the state of Qatar, an OIC Member, casting doubt on its right to host the World Cup for football in 2022. It renewed its call to the institutions of the Joint Islamic Action and to the media institutions in the Member States to stress the right of the State of Qatar to organize the 2022 World Cup, which has been acknowledged and affirmed by all the OIC Member States in the relevant resolutions adopted by the forty-second session of the OIC Conference of Foreign Ministers held on 27-28 May 2015 in Kuwait, particularly Resolution No. 2/10-INF on "Internal and External Media Action in Partnership with OIC Member States’ and international media institutions" issued by the OIC Tenth Conference of Information and Communication Ministers, which was held on 3-4 December 2014 in Tehran, where paragraph 5 states: Condemns biased Western media campaigns against the State of Qatar, which question the latter’s eligibility to organize the 2022 World Cup, and some Western media’s insistence on spreading false and prejudiced information aimed at questioning its eligibility to organize the 2022 World Cup, despite Qatar’s bid winning the organization of the tournament through fair and transparent competition. It underlines that holding 2022 World Cup in the State of Qatar, an OIC Member State, is in itself an achievement of all OIC countries and a right of all the peoples of the Muslim world. It therefore invites joint Islamic action institutions and mass media in OIC Member States to support the State of Qatar in refuting disinformation and incitement by some Western media in this regard. Reiterating its full support for the State of Qatar to host this important sports event, as the first Muslim state ever to play host to such a world event, OIC stressed its support to the State of Qatar and to all that would ensure its success in hosting the World Cup, as well as to its efforts towards optimal preparations for the event. It applauded the level of progress reached in the preparations and welcomes Qatar’s continued preparations to host the 2022 World Cup, the statement added. The General Secretariat also stressed in this regard the role played by sports in consolidating peace, solidarity, mutuality and social and economic development, as well to the worldwide popularity of the football game as a building block in rapprochement of peoples, boosting development and peace and building interfaith and intercultural bridges.