New partnership Prospects between ICESCO and Azerbaijan
15 January 2021
AlMalik: ICESCO prioritizes support to Member States
Karimov: We appreciate the visit of ICESCO Director-General to Azerbaijan… We will continue supporting ICESCO
Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, Director-General (DG) of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), and Mr. Anar Karimov, Minister of Culture of Azerbaijan, stressed that cooperation between ICESCO and the country has set new prospects of partnership and mutual support.
The two parties made the statement during a press conference, held in Baku, yesterday, January 14, 2021, as part of the official visit of Dr. AlMalik and his accompanying delegation to Azerbaijan. The press conference brought together a host of ambassadors of ICESCO Member States accredited to Azerbaijan as well as several journalists and correspondents of news agencies and TV channels in Baku.
At the onset of the conference, Mr. Karimov expressed his thanks and gratitude to ICESCO DG for his visit to Azerbaijan and the tours of the historical and cultural sites in the regions of Fizuli and Agdam.
“We have outstanding relations with ICESCO, which was among the first international organizations that Azerbaijan joined in 1991. This visit will usher in a new era of partnership between Azerbaijan and ICESCO,” he stressed.
Mr. Karimov commended the meetings of ICESCO DG with the senior officials of Azerbaijan, mainly President Ilham Aliyev. “These meetings reflect ICESCO’s new vision, which adopts an open-door policy to all countries. This vision also stresses ICESCO’s support for Azerbaijan in safeguarding its cultural heritage. Azerbaijan will continue its support to ICESCO to enable it to fully accomplish its mission,” he underscored.
Dr. AlMalik stated that ICESCO prioritizes support to its Member States in the fields of education, science, and culture while stressing that ICESCO will cooperate with Azerbaijan in rebuilding or restoring the damaged historical sites.
ICESCO DG announced that the Organization will dispatch a technical team to inspect these historical sites and assess their current situation. “The team will include experts from Member States and other countries. At the end of its mission, it will draft an independent report, which will be circulated to the international organizations,” he added.
Dr. AlMalik highlighted that ICESCO will take all the necessary steps to exceptionally proclaim Shusha as the capital of culture in the Islamic world for 2022 or 2023. He noted that ICESCO Program for the Capitals of Culture in the Islamic World celebrates three capitals every year in the Arab, African, and Asian regions respectively.
Answering journalists’ questions, ICESCO DG and the Minister of Culture of Azerbaijan stated that the cooperation between the two parties will cover many fields and programs, most notably the civilizational dialogue and the organization of conferences and forums; the first joint event will celebrate the poet and philosopher, Nezami Ganjavi.