Minister of Culture and Sports, H E Salah bin Ghanem Al Ali, addressing the St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum, in St. Petersburg, yesterday.
DOHA: The seventh edition of St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum, held in Russia kicked off yesterday, and runs for three days with the participation of 35 foreign delegations led by many foreign affairs and culture ministers in the world, including the State of Qatar, which is the guest of honour for the first time in the forum.
The Forum was opened by Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Olga Golodets, with Minister of Culture and Sports H E Salah bin Ghanem Al Ali, who led the Qatari delegation. More than 20,000 participants and taking part in forum representing theater, opera, music schools in addition to experts in the global cultural and artistic fields and representatives of some governments.
The St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum aims to discuss ways to support cultural cooperation between countries and their peoples around the world and to foster knowledge exchange on cultural and artistic issues through holding seminars, lectures, round tables, various theater, film and musical performances, as well as supporting and developing youth initiatives.
The Qatari participation as a guest of honor in the framework of Qatar Russia 2018 Year of Culture which witnessed the organization of many events between the two countries throughout the year in order to strengthen the future partnership and ties between the two countries and their peoples.
The Minister of Culture and Sports said in his opening remarks during the forum that the diversity of our colours and tongues is a blessing from God to people, and emphasizes the diversity between peoples and cultures, referring to the Holy Quran verse: “O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you.”
The Minister pointed out that Qatar Russia 2018 Year of Culture reflected the joint efforts between the two countries and culminated in an important model experiment in more than forty different cultural activities which reflected its importance in cultural exchange and dissemination of the values of tolerance and openness.
He thanked all those who took part in this forum for the opportunity they gave to Qatar as a guest of honor on the land of St. Petersburg, which he described as the beautiful city and symbol of cultural diversity for centuries.
The forum will also feature a variety of Qatar Museums Department presentations, as well as recent presentations on cinema in Qatar, Qatari artists and photographers works, and a concert of Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra.
A number of Qatari cultural events will be held today.
The speech of the Minister will be entitled “Truth or Myth”, as well as a presentation of Qatar and Sudan archeological project and on architecture and identity.
