The Director-General (DG) of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, met H.R.H Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal Al Saud, Founder and President of Alwaleed Philanthropies, Director of Kingdom Holding Company. Together they explored cooperation and partnership prospects between ICESCO and Alwaleed Philanthropies for the upcoming years.

H.R.H Princess Lamia Bint Majed Saud Al-Saud, Secretary-General of Alwaleed Philanthropies, and the working team of the foundation attended the meeting.
During a meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Dr. AlMalik expressed his thanks on behalf of ICESCO to H.R.H Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal for the foundation’s support and USD 2,090,000 worth donation to implement the joint initiative of helping 10 African countries to face the adverse repercussions of the COVID-19.

The aid program spans over one year as of the signing on July 1, 2020, of ICESCO-Alwaleed Agreement. The program includes the provision of humanitarian assistance to the needy populations in Niger, Senegal, Morocco, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Nigeria, Sudan, Mauritania, and Côte d’Ivoire. It also consists of boosting the capacities of those countries to produce sanitizers and protective equipment against COVID-19 transmission and supporting the private sector and youth and women entrepreneurs.

Assistance has also been provided in a number of the program’s countries in recent months, and will also be distributed over the next two weeks in Morocco, Niger, and Senegal. The assistance will benefit residents of retirement homes, centers of people with special needs, centers of women victims of violence, orphanages, refugee centers, and patients in health centers and hospitals.

The two parties reviewed ways to develop the partnership and constructive cooperation between ICESCO and Alwaleed Philanthropies in the coming years, through a set of humanitarian initiatives aimed at addressing the needs of the most vulnerable and neediest categories.

H.R.H Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal commended the ICESCO’s programs and initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic, which supported the efforts of Member States to address the negative repercussions of the pandemic. The prince stressed his willingness to develop a partnership between his foundation and the Organization.