Rabat – Director of the National Library of Morocco held a meeting with a representative from the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) to discuss cooperation between the two.
The French Protectorate in Morocco established Morocco’s first national library in 1924. It became a public establishment after a dahir (royal decree) in 1926. It was known as the General Library until it was renamed the Moroccan Kingdom’s National Library in 2003.
The ICESCO was founded by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in May 1979. There are 54 countries in the ICESCO. The headquarters of the Organization is located in Rabat, and its Director General is Salim M. Almalik.
Held on March 7 at the headquarters of the National Library in Rabat, Director Mohammed El-Ferrane represented The National Library of Morocco and Deputy Director General Abdelilah Benarafa represented ICESCO.
Read also: ICESCO to Hold International Exhibition of Islamic Civilization in Rabat
The two parties agreed to collaborate in organizing manuscript restoration training sessions and an international conference on the future of national libraries.
The exemplar culture-fostering organizations will also cooperate in the Audiobook Program, which is a program aimed at converting a selection of reference print books into an audio form. The program is to be implemented by the ICESCO’s Federation of the Universities of the Islamic World (FUIW).
In celebration of the city’s long-standing status as part of the Programme for Culture Capitals in the Islamic World, the two parties also agreed that all publications chosen to be regularly carried by the library this year will bear Rabat’s logo as the Culture Capital in the Islamic World for 2022.
