MANAMA, 24 May — GCC ministers of culture yesterday endorsed the rules and conditions of the King Fahd Prize for Innovation which would be awarded annually to GCC citizens who make outstanding contributions.
The ministers from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates also approved a number of joint cultural events including a cultural week for children and a drama festival.
Earlier, addressing the opening session, Bahrain’s Information Minister Nabil Al-Hamar asserted the importance of preserving cultural identity in modern life and expressed hope that this would strengthen cultural cooperation among GCC states.
Al-Hamar said the GCC states were facing rapid changes with mass communication assuming key role in cultural exchange worldwide. This, he added, brings along many challenges threatening true cultural identity and values.
Prince Nawaf ibn Faisal, deputy chief of the Youth Welfare Presidency, who led the Kingdom’s delegation to the meeting, said the meeting was a big success.
GCC Secretary-General Jameel Al-Hujeilan said the meeting decided to establish a center in Qatar to translate books, research work and periodicals into Arabic, giving priority to technology and science in addition to translating books on Arab culture into other languages. The meeting also decided to support educational and cultural organizations in Palestine, facing annihilation in the face of the Israeli onslaught.
Al-Hujeilan said books authored and translated in the Arab world did not exceed 126 works per a million people in the 70s and 80s compared to 3,000 in Europe. He pointed out that Israel had brought out three times as many publications in the 60s.
Regarding the translation project, he said it might restore the role of written word in man’s life after it suffered a great deal in a world steered by technology.
He emphasized the importance of developing reading habit among GCC citizens.
