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In a bid to promote the status and presence of Arabic at the international level and strengthen its global role in anchoring cultural and educational exchange and knowledge sharing, consolidating human and civilizational communication and achieving peaceful coexistence, in light of the growing interest of many non-Arab diplomats in learning Arabic, the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) is launching a video series on “Diplomatic Outlook on Arabic Language.”

The series will feature a host of non-Arab ambassadors and diplomats talking about their personal experiences in learning Arabic, acquiring its linguistic skills, and understanding its social and political culture, as well as their advice to new Arabic learners.

Through this cultural and civilizational program, ICESCO aims to promote its leadership, guidance and anticipatory roles in serving and disseminating Arabic worldwide.
The videos will be posted successively on ICESCO’s YouTube Channel and social media pages and accounts, every Thursday, starting from Thursday, June 16, 2022.

The first episode will feature Mr. Samuel Warberg, Regional Spokesperson for the US State Department, who will talk about his Arabic learning journey and how this language has helped him understand Arab literature and poetry and facilitated his communication with Arabs.

The video series is available on ICESCO’s YouTube channel via the following link:
https://tinyurl.com/IcescoPlaylist

Dr. Abdelilah Benarafa, Deputy Director-General of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), received Mrs. Maïmouna Cissokho, Director-General of the National Agency for Early Childhood (NAEC) in Senegal, to explore ways for joint cooperation between ICESCO and the Agency in the field of early childhood.

During the meeting, held on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, at ICESCO Headquarters in Rabat, Dr. Benarafa stated that ICESCO accords great importance to the protection of children from social violence through its comprehensive educational programs, commending NAEC’s initiative to introduce the Islamic world culture and learning the Arabic language to children.

For her part, Mrs. Cissokho reviewed NAEC’s programs and initiatives to support young children in the fields of education, health, social protection and nutrition, stressing her eagerness to build cooperation with ICESCO to protect children and develop their skills.

The meeting brought together Mr. Najib Rhiati, Cultural Adviser to ICESCO Director-General, and Ms. Ramata Almamy Mbaye, Head of the Human and Social Sciences Sector. Mr. Rhiati stressed the importance of including the values of peace, security and leadership in curricula for young children, while Ms. Ramata stated that ICESCO launches and implements several programs that contribute to the rehabilitation of young children and the development of their cognitive capacities to achieve sustainable development.

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) held a conference on exploring the status of the human being in the era of virtual and augmented reality “Metaverse,” to anticipate the future of this amazing scientific development inside and outside the Islamic world and understand its impact on our daily lives, and the importance of dealing with its changes and transformations, as well as to exchange experience and knowledge about the most effective ways to take advantage of the opportunities “Metaverse” offers.

The conference kicked off on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, at ICESCO Headquarters in Rabat, in the presence of a group of researchers and experts in the field of metaverse and artificial intelligence. Dr. Kais Hammami, Director of ICESCO Center for Strategic Foresight, started the two-day Conference, by highlighting the importance of discussing the concept of metaverse that evolves rapidly and has multiple definitions and meanings including “beyond the universe.”

Metaverse is aimed to enable people to interact more largely with digital content, as it mixes virtual and augmented realities, through the use of virtual reality headsets and glasses.
Afterward, Dr. Marc-Antoine Dilhac, professor of ethics and political philosophy at the University of Montreal and Director of the Algora Lab in Montreal, gave a lecture on the future of metaverse, stating that the content in the metaverse, in which information is shared through videos, is primarily visual and animated.

He pointed out that metaverse allows us to feel the things we touch, by seeing them virtually through the sense of sight. Hence, metaverse allows us to create a new environment that reshapes the elements of reality virtually through digital technologies.

He added that metaverse enables us to create a virtual identity different from the one that exists in reality, by reshaping it and ultimately creating a new identity that can meet new people in this new world.

Dr. Dilhac said that metaverse prompts us to wonder what kind of societies we desire to build through the use of modern technologies, noting that metaverse is currently just for entertainment, but it allows us to understand different aspects of our social life. After that, the participants explored in open discussion the mechanisms of dealing with metaverse in our daily lives.

During the second day of the Conference, a series of artificial intelligence workshops will be held at ICESCO Headquarters, in cooperation with the Algora Lab and the University of Montreal in Canada.

ICESCO Center of Arabic for Non-Arabic Speakers held, on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, via videoconference, a meeting with the delegation of the League of Arab States in Kenya to explore prospects for joint cooperation in the field of teaching Arabic to non-Arabic speakers.
ICESCO Center of Arabic for Non-Arabic Speakers was represented in the meeting by Dr. Majdi bin Haji Ibrahim, head of the Center, Dr. Anas Hussam Al-Nuaimi, expert, and Mrs. Rajae El-Hakkouni, program assistant at the Center. The mission of the League of Arab States in Kenya was represented by Dr. Khalid Al Kathiri, head of mission, Dr. Abdinour Adam, deputy chief of mission and Ms. Amira Abdullahi, expert at the mission.

During the meeting, the two parties reviewed the role of ICESCO and its efforts in spreading the Arabic language and enhancing its position in the Member States and abroad. For his part, the Head of the League of Arab States Mission in Kenya praised the remarkable success of the training session held by ICESCO on May 28, 2022, in Kenya on “Writing local African languages in the standardized Arabic script.” He also called for capitalizing on the expertise of ICESCO Center of Arabic Language for Non-Arabic Speakers in holding more training sessions to develop the pedagogical capacities of teachers in Kenya and hone their language skills.

At the end of the meeting, the two sides agreed to hold a series of remote training sessions in 2022 for the benefit of non-Arabic speaking diplomatic missions in Kenya and Arabic language teachers in Kenyan educational institutions.

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) and the National Institute for Lifelong Education (NILE) in the Republic of Korea signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for cooperation on several joint projects in the field of lifelong education, developing research and initiatives related to lifelong education issues and challenges, promoting leadership and professional development among stakeholders, and organizing joint international conferences, training courses, and workshops to ensure the dissemination of knowledge and the culture of lifelong education.

Following the signing of the MoU, on Tuesday, June 14, 2022, Dr. Barry Koumbou, Head of Education Sector at ICESCO, commended the pivotal role that NILE plays in promoting lifelong education in the Republic of Korea and worldwide through its efforts in implementing literacy and developing lifelong learning cities projects, stressing the importance of the signed memorandum of understanding to strengthen ICESCO Member States’ educational systems for lifelong learning.

For her part, Ms. Amira El-Fadil, Head of Partnerships and International Cooperation Sector at ICESCO, reviewed the Organization’s efforts to develop partnerships with institutions in the Republic of Korea, stressing the contribution of the various sectors, centers and departments of ICESCO to the success and implementation of the Organization’s programmes and activities with the Institute. Dr. Dae Joong KANG, President of NILE, stressed his Institute’s readiness to cooperate with ICESCO and its Member States in supporting partnerships to build lifelong learning city, sharing knowledge related to adult education and providing service and contents of open online training courses.

NILE is an institution affiliated with the Korean Ministry of Education, established in 2008. It oversees the development of policies and programmes implementation, monitoring and evaluation, the organization of training courses and workshops, and assists the government in the field of lifelong education.

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) held a meeting with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) to review the progress of the implementation of several joint projects, within the framework of the cooperation and partnership between the Organization and the Bank.

During the meeting, held on Tuesday, June 14, 2022, via videoconference, the two parties discussed the latest developments in the implementation of joint projects, notably the project of writing local African languages in the standardized Arabic script, which the International University of Africa in the Republic of the Sudan is implementing in several African countries; the project on the use of technology to support people with disabilities in the Sudan; and the project on developing primary education in the Kingdom of Morocco.

The meeting was attended by Ms. Amira Fadel, Head of ICESCO Sector of Partnerships and International Cooperation; Dr. Koumbou Boly Barry, Head of ICESCO Sector of Education; Dr. Majdi Hajji Ibrahim, Head of the Center of Arabic for Non-Arabic Speakers; Mr. Mohamed Hedi Shili, Head of the Department of Legal Affairs and International Standards, in addition to a number of the Organization’s experts. The IsDB was represented by Mr. Moulay Sherif Alaoui, Project Management Specialist at the IsDB Regional Hub in Rabat, along with many experts from both the IsDB headquarters in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Rabat Regional Hub.

The Social and Human Sciences Sector of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) participated in a workshop on the development of women in the Islamic world, as part of the scientific sessions held during the celebration of “Tetouan, the Capital of the Moroccan Civil Society for the Year 2022,” organized under the high patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, May God assists him, by the “International Civil Society Organization for the values of Citizenship, Development and Dialogue,” in cooperation with the “Tataouin Asmir Association for Cultural, Social, Economic and Sports Development,” in the city of Tetouan.

Ms. Safa Zebakh, expert at the Human and Social Sciences Sector, who represented ICESCO in the symposium, presented the Organization’s experience in enhancing the role of women as a key factor in achieving sustainable development and stressed the need to integrate them into the multiple dimensions of the decision-making process in the fields of education, health, economic empowerment and protection from violence and negative repercussions of crises. She also highlighted ICESCO’s efforts to promote good experiences in the field of illiteracy and informal education for the benefit of civil society organizations in the Member States.

She mentioned the Organization’s initiatives during the Covid 19 pandemic, which contributed to mitigating its negative effects and sustaining the economic empowerment of women and girls by encouraging the production of sanitizers and prevention materials as a project for sustaining income and training girls to do so.

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), organizes the International Forum on Artificial Intelligence in Remote Sensing for Epidemic and Natural Disasters Management, on June 12-16, 2022, in the Sultanate of Oman, in partnership with Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) in the Sultanate of Oman and Naif Arab University for Security Sciences (NAUSS) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and in cooperation with the Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS) and a number of international partners.

The forum, which brings together a host of researchers and specialists in the field from 24 countries, includes practical training sessions that are held in Muscat, the Sultanate of Oman, and theoretical presentations that are held via videoconference. It aims at exchanging knowledge and experience on the integration of emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, remote sensing and geographic information systems, into every aspect of human life, and providing a practical understanding of geospatial techniques and risk management applications to provide practical solutions in this field.

In his intervention, Dr. Foued El Ayni, Expert at ICESCO’s Science and Technology Sector, noted that the Organization attaches particular importance to promoting understanding and leveraging emerging technologies, particularly space science applications, to improve human life, and reviewed ICESCO’s future programmes in this respect.

The forum features open, public sessions, training workshops, field visits to SQU’s Earthquake Monitoring Center (EMC) and the National Multi-Hazard Early Warning System, lectures on the use of artificial intelligence in disaster risk reduction and management, and healthcare, remote sensing mechanisms, and examples of the use of modern technologies in the management of dust storms, Cyclone Shaheen, and the COVID-19 pandemic.