The Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, met with the Pakistani Federal Minister of Education and Professional Training, Mr. Shafqat Mahmood, on the sidelines of their participation in the 40^th UNESCO General Conference, which kicked off in Paris last Tuesday.

During this meeting, Dr. AlMalik reviewed ISESCO’s new vision through which the Organization strives to become a beacon in the fields of education, science and culture, not only for Muslim countries but also for the world at large; and aims to become an organization with a clear identity and references, so as to forge ahead in its areas of competence with a forward-looking approach for the benefit of the Islamic world. He added that ISESCO also aims, through its new vision, to become a leadership and creativity hub able to coordinate efforts to develop educational policies and systems for Member States and improve these systems’ performance and output.

In addition, ISESCO Director General reaffirmed ISESCO’s strong conviction in empowering young people, women and children, and allowing them access to good education, noting ISESCO’s initiative to support women scientists in the Islamic world and announcing that this initiative will be expanded to include all scientists and researchers in ISESCO Member States.

For his part, the Pakistani Minister commended the active presence of ISESCO’s representatives in the proceedings of UNESCO General Conference, highlighting the importance of such presence in expertise sharing and cooperation with the two organizations during such events. The minister also praised ISESCO’s new vision, reaffirming his appreciation of the Organization’s new approach, which consists of allowing Member States to specify their needs in terms of programmes that ISESCO then supports, organizes, and deploys experts to carry out the required tasks.

Likewise, Mr. Mahmood underlined his country’s interest in developing cooperation with ISESCO in its areas of competence, and expanding the scope of partnership with the Organization in the cultural field, particularly with regard to safeguarding heritage in the Islamic world.

At the end of the meeting, ISESCO Director General and the Pakistani minister agreed to co-organize a number of programmes and workshops.