DHAKA - Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia will attend the 10th summit of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Malaysia starting October 15, the official BSS news agency said Sunday.

Bangladesh, the world's third largest Muslim-majority country, is expected to try to garner support for its candidate to be the next OIC secretary general, senior lawmaker Salauddin Quader Chowdhury.

Foreign ministers of the pan-Islamic organisation are due to meet next year to choose a successor to the current OIC chief, Abdulwahed Belkeziz of Morocco.

BSS said Zia would focus at the summit on the challenges facing Islam and the Muslim community following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.

A total of 30 heads of state have confirmed their attendance at the summit of the 57-nation OIC, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar was quoted saying Sunday.

The remaining countries would be represented by their foreign ministers at the talks in Malaysia's new government capital of Putrajaya, south of Kuala Lumpur. - AFP