RABAT -- Chinese technology firm Huawei and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) on Wednesday agreed to boost cooperation in the fields of education and artificial intelligence.

During a meeting between deputy general director of Huawei in Morocco Zhu Yuan and director general of ICESCO Salem Ben Mohamed Al-Malik, cooperation in the research related to technology was also discussed, the Rabat-based organization said in a statement.

Zhu praised the ICESCO's work to support efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, noting Huawei attaches great importance to its social responsibility and has provided assistance to local communities in the countries where Huawei operates.

Huawei is very focused on granting scholarships to students from these countries to continue their studies in the field of technology in China, he said.

For his part, Al-Malik said ICESCO adopted a new vision to opening up to countries that are not members of the organization, international and regional organizations and institutions of civil society.

ICESCO has launched many important initiatives and programs to support efforts to counter the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the $200,000 ICESCO Coronavirus Award for researchers who discover an effective treatment or vaccine against the virus, he noted.