ICESCO and Syria explore cooperation prospects in education
16 January 2024
Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, Director-General of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), met with Dr. Mohammed Amer Al-Mardini, Minister of Education of the Syrian Arab Republic, and together they explored prospects of cooperation between ICESCO and Syria in the field of education.
The meeting was held today, Tuesday, January 16, 2024 in Jeddah, concurrently with ICESCO’s Consultative Meeting, organized as part of the 44th Session of the Executive Council, being held on 16-18 January. The Executive Council is hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented in its National Commission for Education, Culture and Science.
During the meeting, Dr. AlMalik highlighted the key axes of the Organization’s vision and the major orientations of its action strategy. He added that ICESCO’s programs and projects focus on building the capacities of young people and women, developing their skills to keep up with the professions of the future, training them in the field of leadership for peace and security and building their foresight knowledge.
Moreover, the Director-General stressed the Organization’s keenness to promote cooperation with Syria within its areas of competence, as part of the Organization’s efforts to contribute to developing the fields of education, science and culture and capitalizing on modern technology, AI and space sciences in its Member States. The Director-General further explained that the Organization also opens up to non-Member States through providing them with the opportunity to join ICESCO as Observer States.
For his part, the Syrian Minister commended ICESCO’s efforts and key roles in supporting its Member States in its areas of competence, expressing his country’s keenness to cooperate with ICESCO in the implementation of a number of programs and projects to exchange expertise.
Dr. Al-Mardini extended the invitation to ICESCO Director-General to visit Syria to take stock of the extent of damage caused to the field of education and the efforts exerted to make up for the educational loss.
