KUWAIT, May 13 (KUNA) -- Holding a forum on cultural development in countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) serves to improve the projects of the member states in this area, said Information Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah on Tuesday.
Speaking at the inauguration of the three-day "Cultural Development Plan Improvement in the GCC," he said such an event was of great importance because it came after more than 20 years of approving the GCC cultural development plan by information and culture ministers in their first meeting in Muscat in 1986.
Over the past 20 years, the implementation of this plan did not only apply to the cultural field alone, but also to different sectors.
The minister said that the past two decades brought with them challenges that needed to be dealt with in order to boost national development and to raise cultural awareness.
He hoped the event would bring forth new ideas that would keep up with developments at the Gulf, Arab and Muslim levels, in light of globalization.
On his part, GCC Assistant Secretary General for Environment and Humanity, Dr. Abdullah Al-Hashem, said that the cultural aspect was an important part of GCC cooperation.
The forum, he said, would discuss important cultural phenomena and field developments that surfaced in the past 20 years, adding that this would only be the beginning of a series of joint cultural project.
Meanwhile, Secretary General of Kuwait's National Council for Culture, Arts and Letter (NCCAL) Bader Al-Rifai said the forum "gives clear indication that joint GCC action is making solid steps forward, especially in the cultural field."
The forum will help consolidate the participation of Gulf intellectuals in the placement of cultural plans, he added.
Copyright Kuwait News Agency 2008.
