The Organization is composed of the following main bodies:

The Islamic Summit, composed of Kings and Heads of State and Government of Member States, is the supreme authority of the Organization. It convenes once every three years to deliberate, take policy decisions and provide guidance on all issues pertaining to the realization of the objectives and consider other issues of concern to the Member States and the Ummah.

The Council of Foreign Ministers, which meets once a year, considers the means for the implementation of the general policy of the Organization by, inter alia:

• a. Adopting decisions and resolutions on matters of common interest in the implementation of the objectives and the general policy of the Organization;
• b. Reviewing progress of the implementation of the decisions and resolutions adopted at the previous Summits and Councils of Foreign Ministers;

The General Secretariat, which is the executive organ of the Organization, entrusted with the implementation of the decisions of the two preceding bodies.

So far eleven Islamic Summit Conferences and 36 Councils of Foreign Ministers (CFM) have been held. The Eleventh Islamic Summit Conference held in Dakar on 13-14 March 2008 elected Senegal as the current Chairman of the Organization. The Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, was re-elected for a new term of office at the closing meeting of the 11th Session of the Islamic Summit Conference. The new OIC Charter was adopted at the Dakar Summit. The Summit also witnessed the setting up of the Special Programme for the Development of Africa (SPDA). An agreement between H.E. President Omar Hassan Al Bashir and H.E. President Idriss Deby, President of the Republic of Chad, under the auspices of H.E. Maitre Abdoulaye Wade, President of the Republic of Senegal, was signed on the sidelines of the 11th Islamic Summit Conference, on 13 March 2008. Before the Summit Conference, at His Excellency President Abdoulaye Wade’s initiative, the first conference of humanitarian and charity organizations was held in Saly Portudal from 7 to 9 March 2008.

In order to coordinate and boost its action, align its view points and stands, and be credited with concrete results in various fields of cooperation -political, economic, cultural, social, spiritual and scientific- among Member States, the Organization has created different committees, nearly all, at ministerial level, a number of which are chaired by Heads of State. 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 Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH) are the ones Chaired by Heads of State.

The number and types of secondary organs and institutions, working toward the achievement of the OIC objectives, have been steadily increasing, and cover various areas of cultural, scientific, economic, legal, financial, sports, technological, educational, media, as well as vocational, social and humanitarian. Depending on their degree of autonomy vis-à-vis the parent organization, they are classified as subsidiary organs and specialized or affiliated institutions.