ICESCO-Niger: Upcoming Cooperation Opportunities
8 September 2020
The Director-General (DG) of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, and Mr. Salissou Ada, Ambassador of Niger to Morocco, explored yesterday, September 7, cooperation opportunities between ICESCO and Niger.
The parties utilized their excellent relations to collaborate in the upcoming period in education, science, and culture.
Dr. AlMalik thanked the President of Niger for his unflagging support to the Organization, highlighting the priority status of African countries within ICESCO’s projects. He also listed the Organization’s aid programs in the region during the COVID-19 pandemic.
ICESCO offered electronic devices for digital educational content creation, to ensure the continuity of schooling. The Organization also granted financial assistance and training sessions to set up and best-cost sanitizers production units.
The DG reviewed the Organization’s major initiatives to curb the outbreak’s aftermath on education, science, and culture. He also mentioned high-caliber participation in the videoconferences and online forums.
Dr. AlMalik reviewed ICESCO’s recent achievements. The focus was on the specialized centers in strategic foresight, artificial intelligence, cultural dialogue and diversity, Arabic for non-native speakers, and heritage. The goal is to establish ICESCO as a reference organization for research and civilizational outreach.
The meeting centered on activities that Niger would have benefitted from prior to COVID-19. The activities included the medical, social, and educational caravans, the first ladies of ICESCO’s African Member States meeting, and the construction of ICESCO Arabic Language Center in Niger.
Ambassador Ada commended ICESCO’s leading role in portraying a positive image about Islam, as well as its consistent cultural and educational efforts.
He lauded Dr. AlMalik’s visit to Niger last May to meet President Mahamadou Issoufou and senior officials at the Presidential Palace in Niamey. May’s visit opened wider prospects for cooperation between ICESCO and Niger.
