The Director-General (DG) of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, met Today, July 13, 2021, at ICESCO headquarters in Rabat, with Mr. Leslie J. Baja, Ambassador of the Philippines to Morocco. The two parties explored cooperation prospects between the Organization and the Philippines in the fields of education, technology, culture, anchoring values of coexistence and civilizational dialogue.

During the meeting, Dr. AlMalik reviewed the main axes of the Organization’s vision and action strategy, which adopt an open-door policy and promote partnerships to benefit the Member States and Muslim communities around the world. The DG highlighted the potential for cooperation between the two parties to serve the Muslim communities of the Philippines.

ICESCO DG explained that since the beginning of COVID-19, the Organization has played a key role in supporting a number of its Member States in countering the negative impact of the pandemic through launching and implementing several initiatives, programs and projects in cooperation with Member States’ competent authorities.

For his part, the Ambassador of the Philippines to Morocco commended ICESCO’s significant efforts and welcomed the development of cooperation with the Organization in its areas of competence. Mr. Baja stated that Muslim Filipinos represent a significant proportion of 11% of the total population and that his country strives to overcome certain issues facing them. He also noted that there are several institutes and research centers at Filipino universities specialized in the field of Islamic Studies.

The meeting touched upon several fields of cooperation between ICESCO and the Philippines, such as contributing to deconstructing extremist discourse, participating in peace and counter-terrorism conferences, sharing Filipino expertise with the countries of the Islamic world in teaching Medical sciences, and collaborating on artificial intelligence.

Dr. Abdelilah Benarfa, ICESCO Deputy DG; Dr. Kais Hammami, Director of the Center of Strategic Foresight at the Organization; Dr. Ahmah Said Ould Bah, Advisor to ICESCO DG for Partnerships and International Cooperation and Ms. Monera Fatima Siriban, Philippines Vice-Consul in Rabat, attended the meeting.