H.E Shaikh Abdullah Al Ali Al Nuaim, Chairman Board of Trustees and President of AUDI, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Malaysian Institute of Planners (MIP) on Tuesday 22nd August 2006, at the premises of Shah Alam City Council, the beautiful capital of Selangor County. The ceremony was attended by H.E. the City Mayor, Council Members and MIP officials.
MIP is a specialized professional organization; most of its members are planners responsible of the planning profession at various local and central government departments. The rest are town planning consultants, university professors and reputed firms developers.
MIP objective is to work for the advancement of the science of town planning for the benefit of all. It carries out its obligations primarily, through a body of specialized knowledgeable, trained and highly skilled planners. MIP is concerned with the improvement of town planning industry in Malaysia since 1972.
The MOU terms addressed the cooperation issues between the two organizations such as conducting joint studies and research activities on topics of mutual interest, offer training of specific technological standards to Arab cities, cooperation and coordination in organizing conferences, symposia and meetings and issue joint scientific publications where pertinent to their shared work plans. The MOU also stated and specified the technical and financial commitments of each party, and the assisting of Arab cities in their urban development endeavor.
It is worth mentioning that the first step in cooperation between the two parties will be organization of an international conference on "Knowledge Cities" to be held in the city of Alam Shah during July 2007. This conference will be in line with AUDI's symposium on the same issue held in November 2005, in Al-Madina AlMunawara, Saudi Arabia, which aimed to disseminate such concepts among Arab cities.
As part of its activities AUDI delegation visited during this event, the Malaysian International Islamic University, the Planning Department in Kuala Lumpur city, and both cities of Putrajaya and Syberajaya, where they met with several Malaysian officials who welcomed the cooperation with AUDI and praised its efforts in transferring knowledge to Arab cities.