RIYADH, 5 July — Prince Talal ibn Abdul Aziz, president of the Arab Gulf Program for United Nations Development Organizations (AGFUND), has unveiled a plan to set up a chapter of the Arab Open University (AOU) in Lebanon.

The move to open the Lebanon chapter in October is at the personal initiative of Price Talal within the framework of AGFUND.

The Lebanon chapter will be part of an Arab open university project, whose headquarters will be in Kuwait. This multimedia university project will be the first of its kind to be established in the region with the help of the prince.

Prince Talal said there are over 1,300 open universities in the world today and hence more than one open university in the Arab world is a necessity.

The proposed open university will be a high-tech venture in which regional facilities including new infomation technology and radio and television networks will be utilized in broadcasting educational programs for students from the Arab world, said Prince Talal. The project, which will be of great help to students from the Gulf states in pursuing different courses, was finalized following the recommendations of an experts committee constituted by Prince Talal to do a feasibilty study.

The AGFUND chief said in a statement that he planned to bring several experts to the open university in order to ensure its success. The university, which will have technical cooperation from various academic

institutions around the world, will cater for the diverse needs of students of higher levels mainly enrolled from Arab countries. including Saudi Arabia and Gulf states.

The statement said that AGFUND was also working with major UN agencies like the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Bank on several projects. To this end, AGFUND and UNESCO are together working on two education projects including one in Saudi Arabia at a cost of $2.37 million.