Today in Paris, the Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, met with the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mr. Abulfas Garayev, on the sidelines of their participation in the 40^th UNESCO General Conference.

During this meeting, Dr. AlMalik presented ISESCO’s new vision, which will turn it into an international beacon, while focusing on issues of sustainable development; combating poverty; countering extremism and hate speech; empowering youth and women; supporting civil society; protecting children; educating refugees and displaced persons; and conserving heritage. The new vision also targets the new roles of artificial intelligence and the future models of education. By the same token, ISESCO Director General revealed that, in the forthcoming period, the Organization will launch a number of special activities and programmes which will greatly benefit Member States, while stressing that this new strategy responds to the requests of Member States and implements programmes requested by these countries, according to their respective needs.

On his part, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Culture shed light on “Baku Process”, which was launched on the initiative of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, with the aim to establish an effective dialogue between different civilizations and cultures. He also pointed out to “Baku Declaration”, issued in 2008 within the framework of this initiative, following the participation of Ministers of Cultures of 10 Islamic countries in the Council of Europe Conference of Ministers of Culture.

The Minister also touched upon the research center, which was established within the initiative, and requested for a permanent delegate of ISESCO at the Center. He also stated that Azerbaijan is interested in two priorities; the protection of heritage and creative cities, while praising ISESCO’s efforts in the cultural field and its outstanding work in documenting heritage in the Islamic World.