The Federation of the Universities of the Islamic World (FUIW) of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) held a virtual meeting with the University of Marburg in Germany to discuss ways of cooperation between ICESCO and the University. The goal is to achieve the objectives of the Project on “Cultural Heritage in Cyberspace: Education, Preservation and Access” following the plan developed by the Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Marburg.

The meeting, held on Wednesday (January 26, 2022), brought together Dr. Omar Halli, Adviser to ICESCO Director-General, along with his team as well as Dr. Albrecht Voys, Head of the Department, Dr. Hala Ghoneim, from Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Dr. Volker Adam, Executive Director of the Specialized Media Department at the University’s Library of Middle East, North Africa and Islamic Studies, and Prof. Christophe Roche, Head of the Department of Oriental Studies at the National Library of Berlin.

The meeting touched upon the details of the project the Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Marburg in Germany implemented, in partnership with Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and the National Library of Berlin. It also discussed the remaining phases to complete the project with emphasis on the importance of digitizing Islamic and Arabic manuscripts, facilitating access to them, integrating them into university training, training students in this field, especially with partner universities such as Ain Shams University and Cairo University, in Egypt.

At the close of the meeting, the two parties agreed to develop an action plan and determine the financial resources for the project to discuss them at the next meeting, due to be held at the end of February 2022.