Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, Director-General (DG) of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), met on Thursday, August 19, 2021, via videoconference, with Mr. Mokhtar Ould Dahi, Minister of Culture, Youth, Sports and Relations with Parliament, Government Spokesman, the Chairman of the Mauritanian National Commission for Education, Science and Culture, in the presence of several ICESCO’s heads of sectors and the Ministry.

At the beginning of the meeting, Dr. AlMalik commended the Ministry’s programs and projects in the field of cultural and media action. He also reiterated his pride in the participation of Ms. Mariam bint Dah, First Lady of Mauritania, who stressed the need to focus on the woman of tomorrow, as a source of inspiration and innovation and a strong lever of socio-economic development, during the great international celebration held by ICESCO in March 2021, to announce the official launch of “2021 ICESCO Year for Women,” under the theme “Women for the Future.”

The DG also reaffirmed ICESCO’s willingness to cooperate with the Ministry to support and implement cultural projects and programs, in particular the inscription of the Mauritanian Mahdara on the Islamic World Heritage List, which constitutes an element of intangible heritage, the preservation of ancient and historical Mauritanian cities, and the designation of Nouakchott as the capital of Islamic culture, being a city rich in its heritage, history, thinkers and historians. He also announced the willingness of the Organization to hold an international conference on the role of women in cultural development before the end of this year.

For his part, Mr. Ould Dahi welcomed ICESCO’s distinguished efforts to support the countries of the Islamic world through the launching and implementation of multiple programmes and projects in the fields of education, science and culture, stressing that Mauritania stresses its interest in women’s issues and places them at the top of its priorities. He also welcomed the initiative of ICESCO to organize the conference that will deal with the role of women in achieving development and proposed to collaborate in the establishment of a center to train educators and preschool teachers.

Mr. Ould Dahi added that the Ministry works to develop and modernize the Mahdara, as part of the intangible heritage of Mauritania, and aspires to cooperate with ICESCO to develop the areas of competence of the Chinguitt Prize, which aims to deepen and promote research in the field of Islamic scientific and literary studies, and to organize the Festival of Ancient Cities, which celebrates the Mauritanian culture, to preserve the historic cities.

At the end of the meeting, both parties agreed to hold more meetings in coordination with the Mauritanian National Commission for Education, Science and Culture, to elaborate and implement all joint projects between ICESCO and the Ministry.