The project of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) to create a Global humanitarian initiative to combat COVID-19 and its consequences was positively received in the Russian Federation in the person of the leadership of the Group of strategic vision Russia-Islamic world, as well as the Russian Representative office to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
Speaking on May 20, 2020 at the international conference "The Muslim world facing the challenges of the pandemic: unity in the context of social distance", Deputy Chairman of the GSV Russia – Islamic world Farit Mukhametshin praised the ISESCO initiative, which aims to find ways to overcome the COVID-19 crisis and ensure fair access to technologies to combat the pandemic.
In particular, Mr. Mukhametshin said: "The global crisis caused by the coronavirus outbreak has the most serious consequences for many countries, especially for those that do not have sufficient resources to fight it. In this regard, we welcome the initiative of the ISESCO to establish a Fund for a comprehensive humanitarian coalition to combat the consequences of the spread of COVID-19. We express our readiness to actively participate in the events held by ISESCO."
The global humanitarian initiative involves the provision of emergency humanitarian and social services to support educational institutions and competent authorities, namely national commissions for education, science and culture in ISESCO member states.
Among the planned areas of work, the following projects are planned:
1. Provision of intelligent equipment, technical devices and software for distance learning to member states;
2. Creation of specialized laboratories for testing COVID-19, production of cheap disinfectants, provision of portable medical equipment;
3. Providing state-of-the-art technological tools to assist in the prevention, awareness-raising, monitoring, follow-up, and forecasting;
4. Organizing medical, educational and humanitarian caravans, as well as publishing special reference books on the problem.
ISESCO is an international organization that specializes in education, science and communication. It was established by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in May 1979.
In February 2020, the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the OIC Ramazan Abdulatipov visited the ISESCO headquarters in Rabat (Morocco). During his meeting with ISESCO Director General S. al-Malik, they discussed ways to strengthen Russia-ISESCO cooperation, taking into account the rich cultural and historical heritage of the Islamic regions of Russia.
Now, during the pandemic, ISESCO shared information about its humanitarian initiative with the Russian Federation through the Russian representation at the OIC, which also paid great attention to this proposal.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"