DOHA: The GCC Ministers of Culture yesterday declared support for Qatar’s candidate and Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage H E Dr Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kuwari for the position of the secretary-general of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) in 2017.
This came at their 21st meeting that concluded yesterday.
The meeting also decided to organise a major cultural carnival in Qatar and other GCC states next year to promote the GCC identity. It will feature programmes and activities in all the GCC states under one theme.
The logo for the celebration will be made through an art competition open for artists from all GCC states. Kuwait will organise the competition and the logo and programmes will be unveiled by the Minister of Culture of the GCC Rotating Presidency or through the GCC secretary-general.
The ministers also agreed on a common cultural action reviewed and modified after the approval of the legislative and legal affairs sector of the GCC general-secretariat.
It has also been agreed to study a proposal to formulate a GCC cultural strategy.
The strategy will be prepared by the UAE, taking into account the GCC identity and presented in the next meeting of the General Cultural Committee.
The ministers decided to organise intellectual seminars in the GCC countries, including one in Kuwait on GCC joint action and another in Saudi Arabia on means of coping with intellectual extremism.A symposium on GCC cultural strategy will be held in Qatar next month to discuss two main themes — education and culture; and activities’ advantages on the cultural scene.
In his welcome address, Dr Al Kuwari stressed the importance of GCC joint cultural action in light of current challenges and said the GCC states have provided all possibilities to maintain the heritage as the backbone of their national identity.
He pointed out that the current crisis is above all a cultural crisis, expressing regret that the world and in particular the region face tensions reflected on the overall life.
Lack of proper understanding of the Arab culture and deviation from its high values of tolerance, peace and openness had a major role in the prevalence of the phenomenon of extremism and the spread of violence, he added.
The Peninsula
