This supplement marks the end of the German Cultural Weeks in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Three months filled with various cultural events about which you will read in other articles of this supplement ended on June 8, 2008 with the screening of the movie “Deutschland. Ein Sommermärchen.” Scientific lectures, literature, sports, music, archeology, tradition and folklore, architecture and last but not least a movie -- we touched a wide range of areas in the cultural field with these first-ever German Cultural Weeks in the Kingdom!

I would like to express my gratitude to all participants on both the Saudi Arabian as well as the German side for their personal commitment crucial for making the German Cultural Weeks a success. I would like to mention in particular the valuable support of and cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Information, the General Presidency of Youth Welfare, the King Fahd Cultural Center, the King Abdul Aziz Historical Center, the Arriyadh Development Authority and last but not the least the staff of the German Embassy in Riyadh and the Consulate General in Jeddah who worked hard to make the events happen.

I would also like to thank the sponsors of the Cultural Weeks. The generous financial support of Siemens, Detasad, Hansa Luftbild, Kuehne & Nagel, Linde, Lufthansa/Swiss, Huta Marine and Memac Ogilvy were an important contribution to the realization of the German Cultural Weeks and their many events.

Cultural relations and education policy is an essential pillar of German foreign policy. It strengthens intercultural dialogue and aims to interest other countries more in Germany and Europe in the long term. It gives me great pleasure, therefore, that we activated our bilateral cultural relations in organizing the German Cultural Weeks in Saudi Arabia that were a true work of cooperation.

The basis for cultural relations between the two countries is an agreement that entered into force in April 2006 -- apart from excellent political and economic relations I can now proudly say: Life has been put into the bilateral cultural agreement and the friendly relations between our two countries have been extended to the cultural field as well.

Juergen Krieghoff

Ambassador

Federal Republic of Germany