Michaud praised the Kingdom’s active charitable role at the international level
Updated 19 September 2023
Arab News
NEW YORK: Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabiah, advisor at the Royal Court and supervisor-general of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, recently met with UN Undersecretary-General for Safety and Security Gilles Michaud on the sidelines of the 78th UN General Assembly in New York City.
During the meeting, topics of common interest related to humanitarian aid were discussed.
Michaud praised the Kingdom’s active charitable role at the international level, noting the efforts of KSrelief in alleviating the suffering of people in need around the world.
UK defense minister lauds ‘incredibly quick’ Saudi transformation
‘Forget everything you think you know about Saudi Arabia,’ says Grant Shapps
Kingdom has ‘women in the workplace at levels that would be unimaginable three or four years ago’
Updated 02 October 2023
Arab News
LONDON: Saudi Arabia’s “incredibly quick” transformation is seeing women join the workforce at “unimaginable levels,” the UK’s defense minister has said.
Praising the Kingdom as a “strong ally” of Britain at an event on the sidelines of the Conservative Party conference, Grant Shapps lauded societal change in Saudi Arabia, The Times reported on Monday.
“Forget everything you think you know about Saudi Arabia. Actually, the country is changing incredibly quickly,” he said, citing “women in the workplace at levels that would be unimaginable three or four years ago.”
He added: “What you can’t underestimate is the impact that is having on their society and the way they govern.”
Saudi Arabia’s “society is moving very much in a way we have always called for societies around the world to move,” Shapps said.
Riyadh book fair provides special section for children
An animation workshop and educational sensory play area has also been provided
A music corner offers children the opportunity to play instruments including the piano and guitar
Updated 02 October 2023
Haifa Alshammari
RIYADH: Organizers of the Riyadh International Book Fair have created a special section for children.
Activities and workshops covering areas such as writing, theater, music, fashion, and culinary arts are among events aimed at promoting reading among kids.
An animation workshop and educational sensory play area has also been provided, and a music corner offers children the opportunity to play instruments including the piano and guitar.
Amr AbuKhalaf, a Jordanian musician and member of rock band Akher Zapheer, was representing Music House at the fair and running guitar classes for young visitors.
Saudi company Music House, established in 2018, specializes in music education and training in the Kingdom.
AbuKhalaf said: “I am here to introduce children to music, especially those who may not have had the chance to learn before.
“I was pleasantly surprised by the positive response from many children. I even had the pleasure of teaching a young girl how to play the guitar, and I was amazed at how quickly she picked it up, as if she had been playing for a year.”
Rewan Abdulrazeeq, a violin and music teacher who graduated from the Conservatoire, The Higher Institute for Music in Egypt, was invited by Music House to take part in the event and provide general information about music to children.
An instrumentalist in the Cairo Symphony Orchestra with 15 years’ experience in the music business, Abdulrazeeq said: “I am fascinated by the approach of schools and institutions in teaching music to children here, and how it helps them express themselves.
“Music is not just about playing or singing; it is a means for children to express their thoughts and emotions,” she added.
The book fair’s fashion design workshop area targets children aged nine to 12, and aims to help them explore their artistic side, discover their potential in fashion, and enjoy experimenting with colors.
The fair is open daily from 11 a.m. to midnight until Oct. 7 at King Saud University.
KSrelief team inspects Rohingya housing in Bangladesh
So far 300 out of a total 410 housing units have been delivered and erected with the remainder due to arrive soon
Updated 02 October 2023
Arab News
RIYADH: An inspection team from the Saudi aid agency KSrelief recently visited one of the center’s housing projects in Rohingya refugee camps in the Cox’s Bazar area of Bangladesh.
KSrelief assistant general supervisor for planning and development, Aqeel Al-Ghamdi, said shelter was being provided for refugees affected by a devastating fire at the camps.
So far 300 out of a total 410 housing units have been delivered and erected with the remainder due to arrive soon, he added.
Last year, the center sent 500 shelters to Cox’s Bazar which were used to house 3,000 people from 590 Rohingya families.
During the inspection tour, the KSrelief team also went to the Okiya Specialized Hospital, and Sadar District Hospital, in Cox’s Bazar and reviewed the center’s support services including medical supplies.
KSrelief team also went to the Okiya Specialized Hospital, and Sadar District Hospital, in Cox’s Bazar and reviewed the center’s support services including medical supplies. (SPA)
Saudi Arabia, China collaborate on literary exchange
Through this partnership, both parties aim to strengthen cultural ties, enhance content exchange, and reinforce literary collaboration
Updated 02 October 2023
Arab News
Jeddah: Saudi Arabia’s Literature, Publishing, and Translation Commission has partnered with China’s National Press and Publishing Administration to promote literary translation between Arabic and Chinese.
The agreement was signed on Monday during the Riyadh International Book Fair, which is currently taking place at King Saud University until Oct. 7.
Hamed bin Mohammed Fayez, deputy minister of culture, signed the agreement with Zhang Jianchun, deputy head of the Chinese Communist Party’s publicity department.
Through this partnership, both parties aim to strengthen cultural ties, enhance content exchange, and reinforce literary collaboration.
The program highlights the Ministry of Culture’s dedication to international cultural exchange under Saudi Vision 2023 and builds upon previous Saudi-Chinese collaboration in this regard.
Saudi Arabia was honored as the first Arab and Islamic country to participate as a guest in the 20th Beijing International Book Fair. The Saudi pavilion at the fair displayed a diverse collection of books in various genres. Over 50 books by Saudi authors were translated into Chinese, and a film about the founder of Saudi Arabia, King Abdulaziz, was screened in Chinese.
LONDON: The Red Sea should be the most pristine sea in the world but its ecosystem also contains ancient endangered species and this should be treated as a global issue, according to the director of a new documentary.
The film, “RED, A sea worth protecting,” highlights the efforts of scientists and conservationists to save endangered species including the dugong, turtles and sharks, listed under the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list of threatened species.
“The point we are trying to make is that it is a global issue and you can have what is supposed to be the most pristine place in the world, like the Red Sea, which is a very strong sea, (but) you still have problems and it’s important that the governments, officials, policymakers, NGOs and scientists communicate that and do something accordingly,” said Philip Hamilton, the film’s director.
“It’s one planet, the species migrate and they move (and) the problems of either coral bleaching, temperature rising or acidity is actually a global problem,” he told Arab News on the sidelines of a preview screening in London hosted by the Saudi embassy to the UK.
“So when we look at, for instance, the Red Sea, we should think about how we can protect the migratory species, how we can protect the pollution, moving from one place to another due to currents.”
Above, Philip Hamilton, director of ‘RED, A sea worth protecting’. (Supplied)
The documentary, produced by UK-based Ocean Souls Films, focuses on ocean conservation. It starts with an introduction to the history of the Red Sea and its geography, highlighting its exceptional coral formations, mangrove forests and seagrass beds.
The film moves on to more specific details about the extraordinary, but critically endangered, marine species that make the Red Sea their home and provides an insight into what should be one of the “least concerning” seas in the world.
It follows the inspiring journey of a group of people dedicating their lives to protecting the Red Sea, sharing their frustrations and sacrifices, and their achievements and hopes.
“Even in the most remote places — thousands of kilometers south of the Antarctic Peninsula, you couldn’t possibly imagine that (after testing) certain animals who have never seen humans are infected with metals and microplastics and so on,” said the filmmaker, photographer and author.
The crew began filming the documentary — being presented at major international film festivals and soon to become available on social media channels — during the COVID-19 pandemic, which provided an opportunity to work in locations that would otherwise be crowded or full of tourists.
The Red Sea is a narrow strip of water lying between Africa and Asia, and which connects Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, Israel, Eritrea and Djibouti.
Hamilton said that the team worked extensively with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, which is doing extensive work via their coral research and development accelerator platform — launched in 2020 during the Kingdom’s presidency of the G20 to fast-track research and development solutions to save the world’s corals.
“I know they are doing a lot (and) the reality is that they are top in the world in terms of the technology, the know-how, and the people they have,” said Hamilton, who has more than 30 years diving and sailing experience and has documented most marine animals on the planet.
“When you highlight the work of one scientist or one NGO, it’s very important for me that it inspires other people around the world because then you have the leverage effect that you really want,” he said.
“It’s great if you are an inspiration and you do great work in one place, and then you are being copied 100 times around the world and you have a real important effect.
“I would love to see KAUST or plenty of other organizations be better known, not only by the scientific community, but people need to see all the great work they are doing.”
Hamilton called on the global community to increase collaboration and implement more marine protected areas. There was a need to replicate what happened in the Galapagos, Malpelo, Cocos and Coiba, he said, “where four countries got together and united to protect their own different individual zones and created one large corridor for species to migrate and be protected” throughout the migratory year.
“I think that’s what we need going forward,” he said. “We need countries to cooperate and go and act together.”
Hamilton was speaking with particular reference to the UAE’s hosting of the UN Climate Change Conference, also known as COP28, which will be held in November. The UAE will be the second consecutive Arab country to stage the annual global gathering, after Egypt held it last year in the resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh, which also lies on the Red Sea.
“We need to protect certain species before it’s too late,” Hamilton said, calling for more integrated planning. “I would expect not only this film to inspire solutions, but for instance, if you want to further develop your tourism, have a look at what could be causing certain problems to certain species, so when you grow, you do it properly.”
Hamilton said the Red Sea project and NEOM were bringing scientists together to provide information as the development of tourism was being planned.
Territorial waters extended to a limit of 12 nautical miles, he said. After that, areas were considered exclusive economic zones but there was a lack of sufficient marine protection laws protecting them.
“When we think about nature, we need to think about no borders, no frontiers, no passports, no visas, no religion, no race. We need to think about the animals and ecosystems in a totally different way.
“But from there to implementing high seas policies and (doing this) worldwide, it is very, very hard (and) that’s a little bit frustrating,” he said.
