Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, Director-General of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), affirmed that preparing for the future and ensuring the establishment of a developed and prosperous international community is a major responsibility that falls to international organizations, stressing that ICESCO is working to establish a framework for its Member States to place themselves on the track leading to the future and to be proactive in thinking about how to face future challenges and plan the world in a forward-looking manner.

This was part of a speech he delivered on Thursday, 9 March 2023 in Riyadh, on the closing day of the Conference on the Future of Organizations of Education, Culture and Science, held by ALECSO and the Saudi National Commission for Education, Culture and Science, with the participation of ICESCO and UNESCO, under the theme: ” “Together for Impact in the 21st Century.”

In his speech, Dr. AlMalik praised the efforts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented by its National Commission for Education, Culture and Science in the person of its Chairman His Highness Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan Al-Saud, Minister of Culture, in implementing Vision 2030 aimed at building society through the development of talents, diversification of sources of income and promotion of scientific capabilities, stressing the need to explore the future in the fields of education, science and culture, and emphasizing the importance of complementarity and cooperation based on the spirit of reliability, honesty and sincerity between organizations in the achievement of the desired goals.

Prior to his speech, Dr. AlMalik took part, along with Dr. Mohamed Ould Amar, Director General of ALECSO, and Ms. Costanza Farina, Director of UNESCO’s Regional Office in Beirut, in the discussion session on “Paving the Way for Future Cooperation.” He stressed the need for organizations to pay special attention to capacity building and training of their staff in order to implement programs and projects to meet the challenges faced by countries and to attract experts from countries with successful experiences in education to build distinguished educational systems and develop curricula.

At the end of his speech, ICESCO Director-General stressed the importance of innovation as an approach to organizations involved in the fields of education, science and culture in the future, raising the possibility of allocating part of their budget to the implementation of joint programs and initiatives, and establishing a common platform dedicated to the organization and implementation of projects in the Member States.