Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, Director General of the Islamic World Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), at the Organization’s
headquarters in Rabat, received Sheikh Mohamed El Hafed Enahoui, President of
the African Ulema Forum and President of
the Islamic Cultural Gathering in Mauritania and West Africa.
At the outset of the meeting, Sheikh Enahoui congratulated Dr. AlMalik
on the Organization’s new vision which makes ICESCO a beacon of civilizational
outreach for Muslim countries, and on its openness to all world countries in
such a way as to serve Muslim communities in these countries and present the true
image of the Islamic civilization which advocates peace, coexistence and
tolerance.
Talks also focused on ICESCO’s initiatives and endeavour to contribute
to countering social and humanitarian challenges facing peoples of the Islamic
world, such as offering a US$ 200,000 in prize money to anyone who discovers an
effective cure or develops a vaccine against Coronavirus (COVID-19); calling
upon Member States to counter the danger of the spread of the Coronavirus and
ensure the use of the teaching alternatives available in each country in the
event the educational institutions were to be closed temporarily; and
reaffirming ICESCO’s full support to Member States’ efforts so as to ensure the
sustainability of the right to education and the regularity of the educational
process in the best appropriate conditions.
Sheikh Enahoui extended an invitation to Dr. AlMalik to attend the
upcoming session of the Conference on the Biography of the Prophet (As-Seerah
An-nabawiyyah), to be organized by the Islamic Cultural Gathering in Mauritania
and West Africa.
Dr.
Salim M. AlMalik, Director General of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), met with Sheikha Nawal Al-Hamoud Al-Malik
Al-Sabah, Honorary President of Deerat Al Khair for Voluntary Work, and her
accompanying delegation, and together they explored cooperation relations in
the field of voluntary work.
During this meeting, which took place
yesterday, at ICESCO headquarters in Rabat, in the presence of a number of
officials of the Organization, the two parties discussed the importance of
supporting and empowering youth and women, two groups at the center of the priorities of ICESCO’s new strategic
vision, through the implementation of programmes and activities aiming at
rehabilitating, training, honing the skills and building the professional,
financial and economic capacities of these groups.
As part of ICESCO’s openness to
cooperation with civil society organizations, the two parties also explored
cooperation in creating specific programmes to empower women at the social,
knowledge and economic levels.
For her part, Sheikha Nawal expressed her keenness to
establish a fruitful partnership between ICESCO and Deerat Al-Khair Group in
the fields of the Organization’s work, including culture, and suggested
organizing a forum that gathers prominent intellectual figures in the Islamic
world to discuss cultural issues.
Today, we are proud to celebrate International Women’s Day as a momentous occasion when weacknowledge and recognize the progress made towards achieving gender equality and women empowerment. A few decades ago, the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO)highlightedthe significance of this important day dedicated to women, calling on all sectors of society to march towards gender equality, women’s rights and their rightful place in all spheres at the turn of the century.
In its new strategic plan, ICESCO has identified women’s participation and leadership in peace-building initiatives, science and technology, as among crucialdrivers of change. The development of a dynamic and an all-inclusive ecosystem, ensuring progress for women at all levels, in culture, education, and other socio-economic undertakings, is paramount.
One glaring reality, as nations of the world commit themselves to the UN’s 4th Sustainable Development Goal on education is that girls and women currently comprise 65 percent of the world’s 40 percent illiteracy rate. Education policies still do not adequately address all of the development challengesfaced bygirls and women in vital sectors if we are toachieve sustainable development and growth.These goals can only be achieved if we muster the full and equal participation of women and men in all ofour communities.
Dr Salim AlMalik, Director General of ICESCO, urges us to challenge antiquated gender norms, empower each other,embracediversity and inclusion,dismantlestereotypes, reject discrimination, and act together to safeguard women’s rights and their enormous potential in leadership roles.
ICESCO calls for greater political commitment to gender equality, more effectiveimplementation of laws and policies, activating legislation that preserves women’s dignity and shields them fromhuman rights violations. The Organization also callsfor spreading concepts based on the highest socio-cultural values and necessary legal protections likely to help overcome the obstacles currently hampering women’sparticipation in different economic sectors and to provide all other forms of support to ensure the success of women in all spheres.
The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), in keeping with the responsibility incumbent upon it and by virtue of its competencies and functions;
In view of the risks posed to the world by the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19);
And being aware of the serious repercussions of the spread of this pandemic in the Islamic world;
Calls upon the Member States’ competent authorities in the fields of education, sciences, culture and communication to exercise the highest degree of vigilance and precaution to prevent the causes of this disease and take urgent and effective measures to reduce its spread.
In the event educational institutions were to be closed temporarily in countries that show signs of the spread of this pandemic, and class attendance were to be substituted with available educational alternatives according to each country’s means, ICESCO expresses its permanent willingness to support the efforts of Member States in such a way as to ensure the sustainability of the right to education and the continuity of the educational process in the best appropriate conditions.
In its bid to encourage medical and specialized scientific
research, thereby promoting humanitarian and social undertakings as its core
objective, the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(ICESCO) announced setting up a US$200,000 prize award for individuals or group
who will find an effective cure or develop vaccine against Coronavirus (Corvid
19).
The ICESCO Director
General, Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, reaffirmed this initiative, reflecting the
Organization’s awareness of the serious repercussions of this virus, threatening
to become a global pandemic with serious impact on the world socio-economic
situation.
Dr. AlMalik added that setting up this Prize goes in harmony with
ICESCO’s new vision which highlights the need to adopt applied scientific
research as a tool to find appropriate solutions to exigent and challenging
issues, calling on all governments, international organizations and civil
society institutions to assume their roles and intensify their efforts to
counter the spread of this dangerous virus.
In the same context, Dr. AlMalik reiterated his sympathy for the
families of the victims who lost their lives to this virus, and reasserts the
Organization’s absolute readiness to assume its humanitarian role to abate the continued
proliferation of the deadly contagion.
Dr. Salim M. AlMalik,
Director General of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (ICESCO), and Mr. Miguel Moratinos, High Representative for the
United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), explored ways to promote
cooperation between the two Organizations to strengthen coexistence and
dialogue between cultures, in light of the great changes and challenges facing
the world today.
At the outset of the
meeting, which took place today, Friday, at ICESCO headquarters in Rabat, Dr.
AlMalik welcomed Mr. Moratinos and his delegation, stressing that ICESCO’s new
vision adopts openness, cooperation and effective partnerships with all
entities in its areas of competence, namely education, science and culture, as
it seeks to serve Muslims in its 54 Member States and Muslim communities in
non-Member States as well.
Moreover, ICESCO
Director General explained that in order to widen the scope of cooperation with
non-Member States, the Organization is establishing contact with many of them
regarding becoming Observer States in the Organization. He added that one of
the manifestations of ICESCO’s openness was the “Forum Future”, which
it organized in cooperation with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation at its
headquarters on 17-18 February. The Forum brought together more than 30 experts
working at international organizations such as UNESCO and other eminent bodies,
specializing in strategic foresight and artificial intelligence and coming from
different countries, some of which are not ICESCO Member States.
For his part, Mr.
Moratinos thanked ICESCO Director General for his warm welcome, praising
ICESCO’s important role in its areas of competence, and stressing that it is
one of the organizations that the Alliance of Civilizations would cooperate and
work with in many fields, especially those related to the dialogue between
cultures, which is becoming ever more important and complex. He added that at a
time when there is ongoing talks about the need to protect the environment and
save the planet from global warming, there is also a need to preserve our
humanity, learn about coexistence and mutual respect, and understand the
existence of different religions, cultures and civilizations.
Mr. Moratinos called on
ICESCO to cooperate and participate in the Ninth Global Forum of the United
Nations Alliance of Civilizations, to be held on 29 November- 01 December 2020,
in Fez, Kingdom of Morocco, stating that it is the first the Forum is held in
Africa. He added that this session marks the 15th anniversary of the
UNAOC, which started as an initiative by the UN Secretary General, maintaining that
the session will assess the work of the UNAOC since its inception and devise a
plan of action to save humanity.
ICESCO Director General
reaffirmed the Organization’s readiness to cooperate and support this major
event, as it relates to its areas of competence, maintaining that the
Organization has a Division of Dialogue and Cultural Diversity affiliated with
the Cultural sector.
A number of ICESCO officials talked about key ICESCO activities scheduled for the upcoming period, including the First Meeting of the First Ladies of ICESCO African Member States, to be held end of next March, in Niamey, capital of Niger, in cooperation between ICESCO, the Nigerien Government and the First Lady of Niger, Dr. Lalla Malika Issoufou. This meeting will be dedicated to discussing issues of community development in Africa, empowering women, combating illiteracy, and facing violence against girls.
The Director General of
the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), Dr.
Mohamed M. AlMalik, today, at ICESCO headquarters in Rabat, met with Dr.
Khalifa Al Suwaidi, , member of the Board of Trustees of Hamdan bin Rashid Al
Maktoum Foundation for Distinguished Academic Performance, and together they
explored ways to promote cooperation between ICESCO and the Foundation in the
sector of education, in light of ICESCO’s new vision, which adopts openness and
cooperation with the civil society institutions operating in the Organizations’
areas of competence.
The two parties also
reviewed the preparations for the awarding ceremony of “Hamdan– ICESCO Prize for
Voluntary Development of Education Facilities in the Islamic World Countries”,
to be held at ICESCO headquarters early April 2020, in the presence of His
Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chair of the Prize, Deputy Ruler
of Dubai and Minister of Finance of the United Arab Emirates. Likewise, the two
parties discussed arrangements for holding the second edition of the Prize.
The meeting was attended
by Dr. Ahmed Said Bah, Director of External Relations and Cooperation at
ICESCO.
Today’s meeting is the
second between Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Dr. AlMalik, after the
one held early February, in Zabeel Palace in Dubai, following the close of the
40th session of ICESCO Executive Council, held in Abu Dhabi, UAE,
which adopted the Organization’s new vision and a number of key decisions
contributing to ICESCO’s fresh start. During the first meeting, Dr. AlMalik
invited His Highness to award the winners of the Prize’s first edition.
Established in 2017 with
support from His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum and in
cooperation with ICESCO, the Prize aims to incentivize and pay tribute to authors
of voluntary initiatives and charity works in education, namely in the
development of educational institutions in Islamic world countries.
The Prize is awarded biennially
to three winners from among individuals or institutions having contributed to
developing education institutions in Islamic world countries. The value of the
Prize stands at US$ 300,000. Each winner receives a shield and a reward of
US$100,000 which will go to charity work, especially developing education
institutions.
The Director
General of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(ICESCO), Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, stated that the Organization has taken upon
itself, as part of its new vision, to make of future building one of its
pillars. To this end, Dr. AlMalik added, it established the Center for
Strategic Foresight to develop its action mechanisms, upgrade its executive
plans, provide the necessary expertise and support to competent authorities in
the Islamic world and step up their performance to keep pace with future
challenges.
In his
address at the opening session of ICESCO Future Forum which kicked off at
ICESCO headquarters today, ICESCO Director General highlighted that the
Organization committed itself to entrenching foresight thought in the youth
through holding training sessions and providing school or training grants, in
coordination with international foresight centers.
Moreover,
Dr. AlMalik revealed that ICESCO initiated preparations for a very important
conference in June on the theme “Tomorrow’s Professions”, while pointing out
that foresight is a novel field ICESCO intends, as part of its new vision, to
further explore and an industry of strategic thought whose findings will contribute
to building a brighter future for the Islamic world.
“If we fail
to anticipate the future now, we will chain ourselves in
the dungeons of the past and dash our hopes for joining the ranks of
developed countries. These countries owe their progress to the findings of
anticipatory studies of present and future changes in all the fields of
development”, Dr. AlMalik warned. He added that these countries used these
findings to develop their strategies based on sound forward-looking thought
away from random predictions that are not scientifically founded.
In another
vein, ICESCO Director General said foresight is the best way to preserve and
consolidate human gains, as specialized studies have proved that in order for
peoples to progress and civilization to flourish they need to consider and
reflect on their future based on a scientific approach, through the analysis of
data and past and present gains to predict their medium and long-term prospects.
“Foresight
does not at all mean waiting for change to happen in order to interact with its
consequences. It rather entails monitoring and interacting effectively and
proactively to effect the desired change. Looking back on the experiences of
leading nations in today’s world, we realize that their civilizational
resurgence was made possible thanks to their solid foundations of foresight
thought, which proved to be the most efficient way to address future challenges
and measure their compatibility or incompatibility with the available
capacities”. He added that such thought allows for investing and adapting the
said capacities with the current situation, or monitoring them to prevent any
negative impact on the future of individuals and societies.
In this
vein, ICESCO Director General provided examples of the results of this
strategic foresight approach achieved at world level, namely the practical
proposals to address the challenge of climate change risks and curb global
warming. These include reducing CO2 emissions to around 45% by 2030 and to “net
zero” by 2050; and monitoring the rise of sea level. He added that the same
approach to the challenges posed by digital transition and smart technologies
in the economic and business fields in preparation for the fourth industrial
revolution reaffirms that 64% of global corporations are aware that their
employees lack the necessary skills for digital transition but only 16% of
these companies have action plans to address the issue.
At the close of his address, ICESCO Director General expressed his thanks and appreciation to all the attending officials and experts and to Konrad Adenauer Foundation for their support in the preparation for the first edition of the conference.
The Director General of the Islamic
World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), Dr. Salim M.
AlMalik, along with several officials from the Organization, met with Dr. Ramazan
Abdulatipov, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to OIC, and his
accompanying delegation to explore cooperation prospects between ICESCO and
Russia, ICESCO Observer Member, in the fields of education, science and
culture.
At the outset of the meeting held at
ICESCO headquarters in Rabat, Dr. AlMalik welcomed the visiting delegation to
which he reaffirmed that the Organization’s new vision promotes openness to and
cooperation with all world’s countries in the Organization’s fields of competence
for the benefit of Member States and Muslim communities in Non-Member States.
He added that the vision seeks to ensure that Observer States play a larger
role in the action of the Organization, which ushered in a new stage toward the
attainment of this objective; and transmit the true image of the Islamic
civilization and culture that promote world peace, hence its new modified name
“Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization”.
By the same token, ICESCO Director
General stated that cooperation with the Russian Federation, as an ICESCO
Observer Member, is of paramount importance, thanks to the outstanding
relations between Russia and the Islamic world and Russia’s progress in the
areas of higher education, scientific research and new technologies and long-standing
culture which tremendously contributed to human civilization. In this regard,
Dr. AlMalik pointed out that ICESCO is ready to inscribe some Islamic historic
sites in Russia on the Islamic World Heritage List (IWHL) which now includes
140 sites from 23 countries.
For his part, Dr. Abdulatipov lauded
the new vision and its openness and the progress being made by the
Organization, while expressing his delight at the meeting and the steps to be
taken to coordinate the development of cooperation between Russia and ICESCO in
its fields of competence and foster relations with Islamic world countries.
In addition, Dr. Abdulatipov underlined that
cooperation between Russia and ICESCO can cover higher education, modern technologies
and strategic foresight given the large number of Russian scientific centers
operating in the field of sustainable development and cultural fields, while
reaffirming his commitment to give shape to this cooperation.
Several ICESCO officials then took the
floor to stress the commitment of many sectors to cooperate with the Russian
Federation and reach out to Russian technical experts to hold future meetings
to agree on best modalities of cooperation. Mr. Valerian Shuvaev, Ambassador
Plenipothentiary and Extraordinary of the Russian Federation to the Kingdom of
Morocco, reaffirmed that the Embassy will follow up the work with ICESCO to
coordinate cooperation.
The meeting was attended from the
Russian side by Mr.Vassili Tchetchine, Advisor to the Russian Embassy to
Morocco, Director of the Russian Cultural Center in Rabat, and Ms. Alina
Danilova, Third Secretary at the Embassy.
In attndance from ICESCO were Dr.
Ahmed Said Bah, Director of Extrenal Relations and Cooperation; Mr. Najib
Rhiati, Director of Culture; Dr. Kais Hammami, Director of the Center of
Strategic Foresight; Dr. Mohamed Hedi Shili, Chief of the Department of Legal
Affairs; Ambassador Khalid Fathalrahman, Head of the Division of Dialogue and
Cultural Diversity; Ms. Zineb Iraqi, Supervisor of the Center of Planning,
Statistics and Assessment; Mr. Samy El Kamhawy, Supervisor of the Center of
Communication; and Ms. Rime Jirari, Programme Specialist at the Directorate of
External Rlations and Cooperation.
Dr. Salim M. AlMalik,
Director General of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (ICESCO), met with Mr. Nasser Bourita, Minister of Foreign Affairs,
International Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates of the Kingdom of Morocco, today,
at the headquarters of the Moroccan Foreign Ministry to explore cooperation
relations between the Organization and the Kingdom in the fields of education,
science and culture.
During this meeting, Dr.
AlMalik expressed his thanks to the Kingdom of Morocco, represented in His
Majesty King Mohammed VI and the Moroccan Government, for their sustained
support for ICESCO. He also reviewed with Mr. Bourita the key themes of
ICESCO’s new vision, which was adopted, along with its relevant decisions, by
the 40th session of ICESCO Executive Council, held in Abu Dhabi,
UAE, on 29-30 January 2020.
In addition, the
Director General underlined that the
Organization is witnessing a fresh start to become a beacon of outreach for
Muslim countries, through promoting more communication with Member States to
implement the programmes and activities needed in these countries, thus
contributing to their respective plans to achieve sustainable development; and opening up to non-Member
States and cooperating with them in service of Muslim communities.
For his part, the
Moroccan Foreign Minister reaffirmed the keenness of the Moroccan Government to
support ICESCO, guided by the instructions of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, in
meeting the expectations of the peoples of the Islamic world; and becoming,
through its new vision, a beacon of global outreach in the fields of education,
science and culture.
