Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, Director-General of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), met with Ezozkhon Karimova, Minister of Preschool and School Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan, to review the progress of cooperation programs under the Joint Action Plan between ICESCO and Uzbekistan.

During the meeting, held on the sidelines of the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) in Doha, Qatar, Dr. AlMalik underlined the importance of Uzbekistan’s participation in the Artificial Intelligence Index Forum, which will be launched in Baku, Azerbaijan, following an invitation from the Azerbaijani Minister of Education and ICESCO’s Director-General. The Director-General also extended an invitation to Minister Karimova to visit ICESCO headquarters in Rabat to strengthen cooperation and explore new potential joint initiatives in education.

For her part, the Uzbek Minister reaffirmed her government’s commitment to enhancing partnership with ICESCO and expanding cooperation in the education sector, particularly in curriculum development, measurement and evaluation, as well as capacity-building.

At the close of the meeting, both parties agreed to hold the third ministerial conference dedicated to PISA assessments, supervised by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in partnership between ICESCO and Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Education. The conference aims to support efforts to improve educational assessment systems in Member States and explore the possibility of training a group of Uzbek professionals within ICESCO’s sectors, especially in education, to strengthen national capacities and transfer specialized expertise.