Dr. Abdelilah Benarafa, Deputy Director-General of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), participated in the first edition of the “Salé Youth Forum” in the Kingdom of Morocco, organized by the Local Scientific Council of Salé on Tuesday, 21 July 2026, under the theme: “Our Muslim Youth: Today’s Questions and Tomorrow’s Challenges.” The Forum brought together a distinguished group of scholars from within Morocco and abroad.

During the forum, Dr. Benarafa delivered a lecture entitled “Artificial Intelligence and the Challenges of Tomorrow,” in which he addressed the various challenges facing young people across the Islamic world, particularly in the areas of education, the labor market, unemployment, migration, and cultural issues.

The ICESCO Deputy Director-General focused on education and capacity-building in light of digital transformation, highlighting a number of key challenges, including significant disparities in the quality of education among countries, curricula that fail to keep pace with technological and scientific advances, school dropout rates in countries affected by wars and conflicts, and insufficient funding for education in low-income countries.

Furthermore, Dr. Benarafa stressed that the Islamic world possesses tremendous opportunities for development, thanks to its large youth population, abundant natural resources, strategic global location, and rich civilizational, cultural, and religious heritage. He added that these advantages can be leveraged into tangible gains by harnessing the technological revolution to promote a modern education system that keeps pace with global developments.