Achievements of youth on display

Journalists covering the Janadriyah Cultural Festival will find it a little easier to dispatch their stories to both local and foreign media this year, thanks to the newly opened Media Center.
In addition to providing technical resources to the media, the center will also distribute local and international newspapers to journalists and guests. Also on-hand will be more than 300 publications on the festival produced since its inception in 1984 up until last year. More than 5,000 writers, poets and intellectuals have participated in the festival over the years, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
Among the Saudi entities exhibiting their crafts and services at the festival is the National Center for Palm Trees and Dates (NCPD), whose pavilion aims to promote its services and support for date farming in the Kingdom. Palm trees and dates are part of the local culture and social life besides being a major economic source, said Adnan Al-Naeem, executive president of NCPD. He estimated that the Kingdom produces about a million tons of dates from 23 million trees annually.
“Our participation in the festival is geared to affirming our deep-rooted Arab Islamic identity boosted by our national identity and also to preserve this identity for posterity,” Al-Naeem said.
The General Presidency of Youth Welfare is also participating in the national festival.
“The national cultural and heritage festival stresses the importance of highlighting the cultural and intellectual achievements of the Kingdom,” Muhammad Abu Omar, director general of and spokesperson for the Office of the President of the Youth Welfare, said yesterday.
He added that the Youth Welfare pavilions have put on display photos, videos and other items that attest to the achievements of Saudi youth and to the development of athletics in the country. The pavilion has a corner devoted to the Saudi Football Association, which displays the achievements of national teams and clubs, both locally and abroad.
Books and other publications of the presidency and its subsidiaries are also displayed in its pavilions, he said.
The pavilion will offer 50 percent discounted membership to visitors to the Saudi Youth Houses Society. Also, the Saudi Sports Medicine Federation is conducting free medical checkups.