Foundation is unparalleled in capacity building initiatives

Dubai: The Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation is "an outstanding initiative" says Ekmel Al Deen Ihsanoglu Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC).

"Having such a big endorsement of $10 billion (Dh36.7b) dedicated to a single objective of learning knowledge, science, and human capacity building is unparalleled," he told Gulf News.

As a scholar himself, Ihsanoglu sees this initiative as a "fulfilment of dreams" of his and many other people's.

The OIC has been cooperating with foundation officials for the last two months, he said, following an inspirational meeting Ihsanoglu had with His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai in June.

The "OIC is now going through a radical transformation particularly after the extraordinary summit of 2005 which met in Makkah and resulted in the approval of the 10 year plan of action."

New vision

This plan of action is "a new vision for the Muslim world' says Ihsanoglu.

The sections that relate to education, science, technology, research and development are in harmony with the objectives of the foundation of his highness.

According to Ihsanoglu, one of the projects he plans to incorporate with the foundation is raising 20 universities in OIC countries to be included in the 500 top universities of the world.

On the overall status of education in the region, Ihsanoglu, says we must be "objective and analytical and we should not pass judgment quickly and irrationally or generalise."

"I think there are countries in the Islamic world that are successful in fighting illiteracy and spreading education on a national level. But there are countries who fail to do that because of shortage of resources or because of adopting wrong policies.

Ihsanoglu, is optimistic "we can solve any problem. Spreading education and wiping out illiteracy should also be accompanied with quality, he says.