The Secretary-General-elect of the Organisation of Educational Cooperation (OEC), H.E. Manssour Bin Mussallam, and the President of the Network of African Science Academies (NASAC), Professor Norbert Hounkonnou, joined by NASAC’s Executive Director Dr. Jackie Kado O’lang, held a videoconference to discuss and explore prospects for cooperation.

The Secretary-General-elect and the NASAC President and Executive Director expressed their commitment to identify avenues for collaboration and partnership in areas of common interest including education and science. They likewise discussed the adverse socio-economic impact of the COVID–19 pandemic on education and the importance of constructing a new proactive, multilateral framework of cooperation and solidarity-based mechanisms.

Professor Hounkonnou and Dr. Kado O’lang re-affirmed NASAC’s determination to support the development and the implementation of OEC’s programmes of work and congratulated H.E. Bin Mussallam for his election as OEC’s Secretary-General-elect.

NASAC is a signatory to the UDBIE and the Constitutive Charter of the OEC. Facilitating effective cross-sectoral collaboration between the OEC and international civil society organisations (ICSOs) constitutes a strategic priority for the Organisation to enhance education’s potential as the catalyst of equitable sustainable development through amplified South-South cooperation.