Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, Director-General (DG) of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), leading a high-level delegation from the Organization, met with Mr. Mohammed Yassin Saleh, Minister of Culture of the Syrian Arab Republic. The discussions focused on joint cooperation projects in the fields of heritage preservation and valorization, foremost among them being declaring Damascus as Culture Capital in the Islamic World for 2027, and the restoration of the Waqf Library in Aleppo.

At the outset of the meeting, which took place on Monday 18 August 2025, at the Ministry’s headquarters in Damascus, Dr. AlMalik expressed his deep conviction that Syria is moving in the right direction with regard to its recovery and development efforts. Moreover, he reaffirmed ICESCO’s commitment to supporting all aspects of national cultural activity, including arts, heritage, poetry, and literature, stressing that the proposal to designate Damascus as the Capital of Culture in the Islamic World comes within the framework of the Organization’s ongoing support for Syria in this critical stage.

Dr. AlMalik also presented ICESCO’s offer to participate in the rehabilitation of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, under his personal supervision, in cooperation with the Ministries of Culture and Religious Endowments. He further noted that ICESCO is preparing to convene an international conference to launch the project for the restoration of the Waqf Library in Aleppo.
The DG emphasized that ICESCO is ready to dispatch a team of international experts to survey archaeological and heritage sites, assess their technical condition, and issue an accredited technical report. Such a report, he explained, would provide credible evidence of the damage sustained by these sites before the relevant institutions of the international community.
In this context, Dr. AlMalik urged the swift registration of Syrian heritage sites on ICESCO’s Islamic World Heritage Lists, during the upcoming annual meeting of the Islamic World Heritage Committee, to be held soon in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

For his part, Mr. Saleh welcomed ICESCO’s initiative to support Syria in the cultural field, expressing his hope for the establishment of a permanent ICESCO office in Damascus. He also referred to the Ministry’s efforts to restore numerous heritage sites that were damaged over the past years.

At the close of the Meeting, Dr. AlMalik and Mr. Saleh exchanged shields and commemorative gifts.