During a meeting with the Director of the UNESCO to Iraq, Mr. Paolo Fontani, His Excellency, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Dr.  Naeem Abd Yaser Al-Aboudi expressed the Iraqi educational institution’s keenness on developing relations and mutual coordination with specialized international organizations, especially UNESCO, supporting projects and programs that keep pace with the variables of knowledge and science, meeting the needs of the labor market and contributing to develop the specialized human capacities. Dr. Al-Aboudi stressed that the Ministry and its universities and formations are continuing their strategic projects in cooperation with UNESCO, including the national strategy for education, providing  job opportunities project via strengthening the technical and vocational education system and the second phase of the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) reform project. His Excellency directed the concerned Directorates in the Ministry and its committees to intensify targeted actions that embody the requirements of quality education and achieve the goals of sustainable development. Dr. Al-Aboudi added that the university education occupies a vital part in the system of development and the awareness industry and it considered the most prominent way to confront terrorism and extremism. His Excellency reviewed the importance of joint work with UNESCO, as well as the UNESCO support for Iraqi universities in the field of the required review of curricula that must reflect the cultural heritage of Iraq. For his part, Mr. Fontani expressed the UNESCO’s readiness on providing all forms of support to the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, university education policy and programs in Iraq and concluding agreements and memorandums of understanding in the scientific, knowledge and cultural fields. It is worth mentioning that the meeting highlighted the smart center project funded by China and the advanced completion rates of a number of projects being implemented under the supervision of UNESCO in Iraq.