The Consultative Council for Cultural Development in the Islamic World, whose General-Secretariat is held by the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Icesco), held its 18th meeting in Doha under Qatar's chairmanship. The meeting discussed the agenda, as well as the draft decisions and documents that would be submitted to the 12th Conference of Ministers of Culture in Islamic World, convened by Icesco, and hosted by Qatar tomorrow, represented by the Ministry of Culture. The conference will run for two days.
The meeting approved the establishment of the council's new office in its upcoming session throughout 2024-2025, after Qatar has taken over the presidency from Tunisia. In his remarks following Qatar's assumption of the council's presidency, Assistant Undersecretary for Cultural Affairs at the Ministry of Culture Dr Ghanem bin Mubarak al-Ali affirmed the affirmative reaction between Qatar and Icesco, stemming from the belief in Icesco's role in operationalising the joint cultural work in the Islamic world.
Director of Culture and Communication Sector at Icesco, Dr Mohamed Zain al-Abidin, delivered an inaugural speech in which he discussed Icesco's efforts in supporting cultural action in light of its strategic vision and orientations through carrying out programmes and innovative projects in its member states.
The council's inaugural session was followed by work sessions which featured the discussion of a myriad of executive reports and documents that are due to be presented during tomorrow's conference, including the report of Icesco's accomplishments in cultural area, report of the Islamic World Heritage Committee, document of the guidelines of cultural policies, sustainable development indicators in an evolving world, in addition to a report on the success of the activities of the celebration of Doha as the capital of culture in the Islamic world presented by Director of the Department of Culture and Arts at the Ministry of Culture, Maryam Yassin al-Hammadi.
Al-Hammadi underscored the concerted efforts of the cultural institutions and other entities in Qatar to have a successful celebration that was held under the slogan "Our Culture is Light" which featured nearly 300 various events which were not actually limited to culture but were largely focused on thought and global orientations that nurture the culture at home and abroad.
Al-Hammadi said the meeting discussed a plethora of topics that will be laid out on the agenda of the meeting of the ministers of culture tomorrow. In addition, the meeting featured the presentation of an array of proposals of hosting the capitals of culture in the Islamic world during the upcoming period, including the nomination of Qatari Lusail city as the capital of culture in the Islamic world 2030.
The meeting also discussed Icesco's document to combat illicit trafficking in the property, as well as other documents.
During the Icesco's 18th meeting, the representative of the State of Palestine presented a proposal to make Jerusalem a permanent capital of Islamic culture, whilst the representative of Saudi Arabia presented two proposals, the first one related to launching culture indicators in the Islamic world to collect data and monitor cultural and political activities, as well as support the member states in charting their cultural policies, while the second one was pertinent to launching a programme for (Haj route, routes of trade caravans, and the routes of travelers, scholars, students and manuscript, etc.(QNA)
