The delegation of the
Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO)
concluded its visit to the Republic of Uzbekistan with a series of meetings
with officials from the Uzbek Ministry of Culture, as part of the preparations
for the celebration of Bukhara as the Asian region’s Islamic World Capital of
Culture for 2020.
At the headquarters of
the Ministry of Culture in Tashkent, ICESCO delegation, composed of Mr. Najib
Rhiati, Director of Culture, Dr. Abdelilah Benarafa, Cultural Advisor to the
General Director, and Mr. Bilal Chebbi, Programme Specialist at the Directorate
of Culture, met with Mr. Ozodbek Nazarbekov, Minister of Culture of Uzbekistan,
and a number of the Ministry officials, and together they discussed the
outcomes of the meetings of ICESCO delegation and its visits to the cities of
Tashkent, Bukhara and Samarkand; and agreed upon the minutes of the
coordination meetings.
Afterwards, ICESCO
delegation met with Mr. Rustam Kasimov, Advisor to the President and President
of the International Islamic Academy of Uzbekistan. The delegation also met
with the Director of ICESCO Chair for Islamic Civilization, Dr. Doran Maksudov,
and the teaching staff (38 teachers), who are teaching 500 students within the
framework of the Chair. The two parties reviewed the activities of the Chair
and its contribution to the celebration of Bukhara; and the delegation took
stock of the Chair’s needs in terms of providing grants and hiring a professor
of Arabic language and a professor of Sharia sciences.
Following its meetings
at the headquarters of the Ministry of Culture and in the presence of officials
in the Ministry, ICESCO delegation along with the Deputy Minister held a press
conference wherein the delegation presented ICESCO’s conception of the
celebration as part of the Organization’s new vision.
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.
As part of its new vision, the
Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO)
endeavors to support and empower the youth, build their capacities and ensure
access of all to quality education that keeps with present developments and secures
them a decent life. The Future Forum, held by ICESCO on 17-18 February 2020, in
cooperation with the German Konrad Adenaur Stiftung Foundation, recorded a
strong participation by the youth of the future.
Alongside attendance at workshops
throughout the two-day Forum, young inventors took part in the “Museum of the
Future”, held on the sidelines of the Foum and where virtual pictures and
models of inventions reflective of future sectoral challenges and
child-invented robots were on display.
The Museum received great attention
from both participants and the large public. It was also toured by Dr. Salim M.
AlMalik, ICESCO Director General, Mr. Said Amzazi, Minister of Education,
Vocational Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research of Morocco, and
Dr. Hatem ben Salem, Minister of Education and Acting Minister of Higher
Education and Scientific Research of Tunisia, where they exchanged with
participants and learnt about the ideas relevant to each exhibited model and
picture.
As part of
the arrangements for the celebration of Bukhara as the Asian region’s Islamic World
Capital of Culture for 2020, the delegation of the Islamic World Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) continued its visit to
Uzbekistan. Today, they toured Imam Bukhari International Scientific Research
Center (IBISRC) and the Madrasah (Sharia school) of Samarkand,
Uzbekistan’s second largest city.
The
delegation of Mr. Najib Rhiati, Director of Culture, Dr. Abdelilah Benarafa,
Cultural Advisor to the Director General, and Bilel Chebbi, Programme
Specialist at the Culture Directorate, discussed with the IBISRC Director the
establishment of “ICESCO Regional Center for Manuscripts” to operate under the
umbrella of IBISRC. Through training sessions, the future Center will allow IBISRC
to build capacities in the conservation of rare manuscripts in the region as it
is home to a large number of such heritage documents.
The
delegation also visited the mill of manuscript paper where the manual method is
still in use today. Officials at the mill said that the handmade paper is eye-friendly
and maintains a life-span of 2000 years against maximum 100 years for
industrial paper.
The officials of the Uzbek Ministry of Culture and the delegation agreed to inscribe the know-how and skills of the production of the Samarkand paper on the List of Intangible Heritage in the Islamic World.
Today, at
ICESCO headquarters in Rabat, in the wake of two days of sessions and exchange
about the future of the world in 2040, the Future Forum closed its proceedings
with a review of the outcomes and recommendations of the six strategic workshops
that culminated its second day.
In her
presentation of the closing session, Ms. Samia Djacta, Director of ICESCO
Office at UNESCO, lauded the strong international participation witnessed on
the first day and on the second day’s workshops, especially from among
university and higher institutes in Rabat. She also reaffirmed that the ICESCO
achieved the ambition of the Conference that was dedicated to the youth, while
pointing out that the discussions were useful as they tackled the future of the
world by 2030 and even how it would look like by 2060.
The
coordinators of the workshops gave summaries of the ideas, proposals, outcomes
and recommendations of each workshop. The first workshop “Education: Major
Trends” dealt with the future of education and education for the future. The
coordinator thanked ICESCO for its efforts in the field of education, while
commanding the projects implemented in this regard, namely “Digital School
2030”, “Learning for Peace and Sustainable Development”, and “Teach me to be
free.. teach me to live in dignity”.
Dr. Ismaila
Diallo, Coordinator of the workshop “Sciences: the Challenges of the Future”
said that the workshop handled the four main challenges to the Islamic world,
namely the provision of energy resources, lack of food security, environment
and climate change issues, and ecological technology. He also added that it
touched on the issue of technology sharing between developed and developing
countries, low connection between
education and the labor market, lack of gender equality, a prerequisite for a
more productive and stable society.
For her
part, Mr. Mhand Amer Nassim, Coordinator of the Workshop “Culture: an
imperative for intercultural dialogue” pointed out that the work carried out at
the workshop was held based on the assumption that coexistence and intercultural
interaction are key to the achievement of peace as culture is a leverage of
peace. He added that the workshop focused on dedicating projects and programmes
for the youth to engage in them in the sustainable development process, namely
the projects “Cultural production”, “Youth’s cultural identity”, and “Fostering
youth’s ties with the green environment”.
With regards
the workshop “Laboratory of Future Literacy”, Dr. Riel Miller, Coordinator of
the Workshop raised many questions about how would look like our way of
thinking about the future of the world and whether it will be compatible with
the new ways of thinking about developments. He pointed out that there is a
need for an accurate, advanced, and unusual way of thinking and the
incorporation of futuristic thought in all the fields, while benefiting from
available ones to efficiently face the future.
As for
“Human and Social Sciences: Evolution and Foresight” Workshop, the workshop’s
coordinator, Dr. Jamal Eddine El Hani, underlined that social sciences are not
given due attention with regards to their essential role in our societies and
that the workshop dealt with the rehabilitation of social and human sciences.
In this regard, he added that the workshop yielded many ideas and proposals,
notably the necessary development of a modern Islamic civilization and the
activation of the role of human sciences in the face of current challenges.
At the
workshop of “Artificial intelligence: toward ethical technology in service of
societies” made a presentation on the proceedings of the workshop. They were
split into three groups to allow all participants to have their say about AI
and its future applications. The workshop issued three recommendations one for
the humanization of data science and data sharing to achieve security; the
second on personal data about humans and the important understanding of
AI-dominated age; and the third on the complexity of AI.
Having
reviewed the workshops’ reports, Dr. Steffen Krüger, Representative of Konrad
Adenauer Foundation in Morocco, thanked ICESCO and its Director General for
organizing the Forum, while reaffirming the constant cooperation between ICESCO
and the Foundation. He then expressed his hope that ideas generated at the
Forum would materialize on the ground.
At the close of the Forum, Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, ICESCO Director General, made an address wherein he announced the start of a comprehensive study for the future of the Islamic world by 2050 and the launch of “ICESCO Foresight Programme” under which foresight studies and training sessions will be organized and grants in foresight will be given to youth, in cooperation with international foresight centers.
** Scholarships and training sessions for youth from “Foresight ISESCO Program”
Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, ICESCO Director General,
announced that ICESCO is starting a comprehensive study on the future of the
Islamic world by 2050, to be delivered by the end of this year, inviting
researchers from all over the world to contribute to implementing the new
vision of the Organization.
Dr. AlMalik also announced the launch of “ICESCO
Foresight Program”, which will conduct foresight studies, organize
training workshops, and provide scholarships for young people in the field of foresight,
in cooperation with international foresight centers.
This was part of the speech ICESCO Director General
delivered today, Tuesday, during the closing session of the Future Forum, which
was organized by ICESCO in cooperation with the German Konrad Adenauer
Foundation over two days, with the participation of more than 30 of most prominent
experts of strategic foresight and artificial intelligence in the world.
In his speech, Dr. AlMalik said that the history of
the Organization is changing, and its fresh start opens up multiple perspectives,
and the success of the Forum cleans realistic paths for the future of ICESCO.
He thanked the participants of the Forum for their proactive thought that accompanies
the new vision of the Organization, which makes of it a beacon of global
outreach in its fields of competence. Dr. AlMalik invited them to put forward
new ideas and submit suggestions to the Organization, which would be taken into
consideration, stressing that ICESCO would play a major role in generating
ideas and devising foresight and proactive strategies in its fields of
competence, and would be a hub of expertise for the Islamic world countries.
At the end of his speech, ICESCO Director General thanked the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and its representative in Morocco, Mr. Steffen Krueger, for supporting the idea of the Forum from the start and cooperating in its implementation. He also thanked all those who contributed to the success of ICESCO team, reaffirming the Organization’s intention to organize the Future Forum annually, in addition to other forums that keep up with changes, including the “Careers of Tomorrow Forum”, which will be organized by ICESCO, in June 2020.
Few moments
ago at the headquarters of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (ICESCO), six strategic workshops kicked off at the start
of the second day of the Future Forum, co-organized by ICESCO and the German
Conrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS). The opening ceremony and the four working
sessions, which took place yesterday, were attended by a large audience.
The
workshops span diverse themes, namely: “Education: Major trends”; “Culture:
Need for intercultural dialogue”; “Sciences: Future challenges”; “Artificial
Intelligence: Towards ethical technology in the service of societies”; “Human
and Social Sciences: Development and Foresight”; and “Future literacy
laboratory”.
These
workshops brought together an elite of renowned experts in the fields relevant
to the themes of the workshops, along with interested attendees and university
students, Moroccans and foreign students. The Forum closing session will start
after the workshops.
Yesterday’s
opening session featured the addresses of Dr. Salim M. Al-Malik, Director
General of ICESCO, Mr. Said Amzazi,
Minister of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education
and Scientific Research of the Kingdom of Morocco, Dr. Hatem Ben Salem,
Minister of Education and Acting Minister of Higher Education and Scientific
Research of the Republic of Tunisia, and Mr. Steffen Krüger, Representative of KAS
in Morocco.
The working
sessions, which followed the opening ceremony, addressed four themes: “Foresight
by 2040”; “Future Literacy”; “Positioning Artificial Intelligence in its Right
Perspective”; and “the Future of Sciences”. These sessions were attended by a
large audience which interacted with the speakers.
A delegation from the Islamic World
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) composed of Mr.
Najib Rhiati, Director of Culture, Dr. Abdelilah Benarafa, Cultural Advisor to
Director General, and Mr. Bilel Chebbi, Programme Specialist at the Directorate
of Culture, in Tashkent, held a coordination meeting with officials from the
Uzbek Ministry of Culture on the celebration of Bukhara as the Asian region’s
Capital of Islamic Culture for 2020.
The meeting centered on the
arrangements to be made to implement the programmes of the celebration. In this
regard, the Uzbek officials invited Dr.Salim M. AlMalik, ICESCO Director
General, to visit Uzbekistan and attend the official launch of its ceremony.
They also lauded the new start ushered in by ICESCO just after the adoption by
the 40th session of Executive Council (Abu Dhabi, UAE, 29-30 January
2020) of the Organization’s New Strategic Vision and expressed their country’s
willingness to contribute to the Development Waqf Fund launched to ensure
sustainable funding of programmes and projects.
In addition, the two parties agreed
to establish a global forum on Islamic civilization in Bukhara, Tashkent, and
Samarkand, and invite several culture ministers and intellectual and cultural
figures from the Islamic and beyond to attend the launch of the Celebration.
They also suggested to set up a ICESCO Chair on Imam Al Bukhari at the University of
al-Qarawiyyin to be funded by Uzbekistan.
In another vein, the meeting focused
on the inscription of many heritage sites and elements of tangible and
intangible heritage in Uzbekistan on the Islamic World Heritage List (IWHL) and
examine the organization of an international conference on the role of
translation in bringing cultures together and a training workshop in Uzbekistan
for the staff working in the field of heritage.
Next, ICESCO delegation visited the construction site of the Center of Islamic Civilization and, at the request of the Center’s director, provided some suggestions relevant to the design of the exhbition space of the the manuscript of Uthman Quran and the exhibition galleries of purchased artifacts and the history of Islamic civilization. The Center will be inaugurated at the close of the Celeberation.
The first day’s sessions
of ICESCO Future Forum, which kicked off today at the headquarters of the Islamic
World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), reached great
momentum, as it covered the following
themes: “Foresight by 2040”; “Future Literacy”; “Positionning
Artificial Intelligence in its right perspective”; and “The Future of Sciences”.
The first session, held under the theme “Foresight by 2040”,
was moderated by Dr. Kais Hammami, Director of the Center of Strategic
Foresight, and features the respective presentations of Mr. Sobhi Tawil, Head
of Foresight in the Education Sector at UNESCO; Ms. Sandra Coulibaly Leroy,
Assistant Director for Intelligence, Assessment and Foresight at the OIF; and Prof.
Ted Fuller, UNESCO Chair on Responsible Foresight for Sustainable Development,
who gave a presentation on the need to reconsider foresight in light of the
necessity to have an ethical framework.
Other speakers also gave presentations at the first session,
namely Ms. Manon Raclot, Director in charge of the prospective practice within
YouMeO; Mr. Koffi Kouakou, Foresight expert and philosopher from South Africa,
who talked about the geographical aspect of dealing with foresight; Dr. Pierre
Marcel Rossel, anthropologist; and Dr. Saly Mohamed Mabrouk, Expert in organizational
excellence and future shaping.
The second session revolved around the theme “Future Literacy”
and was moderated by Mr. Riel Miller, Head of Futures Literacy, UNESCO, and
featured presentations by the following speakers: Ms. Damhof Loes, Senior
Lecturer Futures literacy, Hanze University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands;
Dr. Claudia Baisini from Cambridge University; Ms. Kwamou Eva Feukeu from
UNESCO; the researcher Ms. Jessica Kim Bland; Dr. Fred Carden, Director of
Using Evidence Inc.; and Mr. Samir Benmakhlouf, Founder and Managing Director,
London Academy Casablanca, Former CEO of Microsoft Morocco.
Under the theme “Positionning Artificial Intelligence in its right
perspective”, the third session was moderated by Ms. Sasha Rubel, Programme
Specialist, Knowledge Societies Division, Communication and Information Sector
at UNESCO. This session included six presentations by the following speakers: Mr.
Sidi Ali Maelainin, Corporate Citizenship Manager for IBM in North Africa; Ms.
Niki Iliadis, Senior AI Policy Researcher and Program Manager at The Future Society;
Ms. Pauline Noiseau, Coordinator at Algora Lab; Dr. Rim Faiz, Professor at IHEC
Carthage; Mr. Hichem Iraqi Houssaini, Director General of Microsoft Morocco;
and Mr. Mohamed Hedi Shili, Director of Legal Affairs at ICESCO.
The last session dealt with the theme of “The Future of
Sciences” and was moderated by Prof. Najla Bouden Romdhane, National
Coordinator of the Tertiary Education for Employability (TEEP) Project at the
Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and Research. It featured the
participation of Ms. Zineb Iraqi, Supervisor of the Center of Planning, Statistics
and Assessment at ICESCO; Prof. Hanan Issa Malkawi, Professor at the Department
of Biological Sciences at Yarmouk University, Jordan; Prof. Ghada Mohamed Amer,
Vice Dean for Postgraduate and Research, Benha University / Vice-President of
Arab Science and Technology Foundation; and Prof. Farida Khammar, representing ICESCO
Chair in Algeria.
As for the second day, six strategic workshops will handle
the theme “Horizon 2040”, namely “Education: Major trends”; “Culture: Need for
intercultural dialogue; Sciences: Future challenges”; “Artificial Intelligence:
Towards ethical technology in service of societies”; “Human and social sciences:
Development and Foresight”; and “Future literacy laboratory”. The workshops
will be held at the same time, from 9:00 am. to 12:30 pm., followed by the
Forum’s closing ceremony.
The opening session of the Future Forum, which kicked off on Monday at the
headquarters of ICESCO in Rabat, brought together a large number of officials, members
of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Kingdom of Morocco, most prominent
experts of strategic foresight and artificial intelligence, and students.
The session was opened by Dr. Kais Hammami, Director of the Centre of Strategic
Foresight at ICESCO. He welcomed the forum’s guests, representing an elite of
experts in strategic foresight, working at major international organizations, in
prestigious universities, and in government institutions, stressing the
importance of the issues to be discussed at the forum over two days.
Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, ICESCO Director General, emphasized that the Organization
has taken upon itself, as part of its new vision, to make future building one
of its main pillars, noting that the Organization seeks to entrench the thought
of strategic foresight in youth groups, through holding training workshops or
providing schools and training grants in coordination with centers of strategic
foresight.
Moreover, Dr. AlMalik revealed
that ICESCO has started preparing for an important conference to be held in
June, that will be devoted to the theme of “Tomorrow’s Professions”, warning that “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.”
In his address, Mr. Said Amzazi, Minister of National Education, Vocational
Training, Higher Education and Research of the Kingdom of Morocco, took the floor
and congratulated ICESCO Director General on the comprehensive reform taking
place in the Organization, and on the Organization’s new vision adopted by the
40th session ISESCO Executive Council, held by Abu Dhabi, UAE, on 29
and 30January 2020. He also reaffirmed the continued support of the
Kingdom of Morocco to the Organization to fully discharge its role and achieve the
peoples Islamic world ambitions in the fields of education, science and
culture, and support it in its new start to become a beacon of global outreach
in its fields of competence.
He added that in a world dominated by globalization and economic and social
changes, it is imperative for all of us to look forward, pointing out that
Morocco experienced profound structural transformations that called for the
promotion of foresight studies. In this regard, Dr. Amzazi added that the
government has formulated a vision to develop the system of education and
scientific training in Morocco through a comprehensive set of initiatives, such
as establishing new schools, and promoting justice and equal opportunities.
Then, Dr. Hatem ben Salem, Minister of Education and Acting Minister of
Higher Education and Research of the Republic of Tunisia, delivered an address
in which he indicated that the world has experienced in recent decades positive
and negative changes, such as the digital revolution, the increasing advocacy
for human rights, the disappearance of dozens of conventional professions, and the
emergence of new ones. Facing all these massive challenges, Dr. ben Salim
stated, our societies have no other choice but to take advantage of these changes
in technology and sciences.
He added that benefiting from these changes requires accurate knowledge of
the needs and the goals of our societies, and the adoption of foresight
approach that meets these needs, noting that artificial intelligence has become
one of the most important goals (SDGs) that help us to achieve and create
opportunities for the strategic approach, and enable us to achieve the Sustainable
Development, and contribute to combating diseases and fight illiteracy.
Steffen Krueger, the representative
of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in the Kingdom of Morocco, praised the continued
cooperation between ICESCO and the Foundation, and stressed the importance of
the Forum’s theme, especially that foresight allows access to future scenarios
to be able to deal with them in the most appropriate way.
He underscored the urgent need for developing societies, especially in Africa, to adopt strategic anticipation as an essential tool in shaping their future policies, calling on the audience to listen to the guests and enrich the discussion for maximum benefit from the Forum.
