The King Abdullah International Center for the Arabic Language (KAICAL) will be hosting an international event to celebrate the Arabic language next year.

The event is to take place in February next year as part of the leadership initiative which comes amid reports that Arabic, despite its linguistic beauty and richness, is used predominantly for religious purpose rather than also being used to its full potential as a medium for business communication.

Some Asian and African minorities learn Arabic only for reciting the Holy Qur’an, while Arab universities do not grant scholarships to non-Arabic speakers for pursuing higher studies in science and engineering.

Minister of Higher Education Khalid Al-Anqari thanked Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for his initiative which seeks to promote Arabic as a diverse, important language. The minister, who is also KAICAL's general supervisor, has invited major international organizations involved in multilingual education to include Arabic in their curriculum.

Al-Anqari said he had already received positive feedback from these organizations, since they could expand their international presence by including Arabic as learned-language. It could also assist both Arab and non-Arab students in terms of job opportunities in today’s globalized world.

“It is worth mentioning that the upcoming forum is the first of its kind globally, and intends to invite all organizations that use multiple languages to participate in this initiative,” he said, adding that the event will promote cooperation between these organizations as they seek to expand their presence nationally and abroad.

The forum will also work to discover mechanisms for investment in service projects, as well as a way to overcome the obstacles that Arabic language-learning faces in being able to benefit fully from the support provided by the Kingdom for education services. The forum also seeks to recognize the efforts of international organizations involved in the Arabic language development, and to benefit from their lessons and lengthy experience.

Observers have noted that organizations with a successful track record of promoting Arabic as a learning-language could be considered for an international award by KAICAL.