The Secretary General of the Youth Board of the Asir region, Adel Al-Omar, has confirmed that more than 300 young men participated in the organization of the fourth Forum of architectural heritage in the region recently.

Al-Omar gave his thanks and appreciation to Prince Sultan bin Salman, head of Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (STCA), for his role in the event, and noted that thecommission’s confidence in the youth of Asir to organize such a large event is a major morale boost for them, stressing at the same time that the region contains a very promising, highly capable youth body.

He added, “This initiative that was launched by the STCA is at the center of a larger youth development project that seeks to create temporary job opportunities for youth with good financial returns, in addition to activating them to perform community service.”

Commenting on the distribution of tasks throughout the forum, Al-Omar said, “The youth were divided to eight working teams to work at different times over a period of 24-hours to ensure that the event ran smoothly,” pointing out that the main tasks involved formulating the activities of the forum and developing creative ideas that mimic the reality of daily life — a formulation process that lasted for more than 5 months in total, prior to the event itself.”

He added, “The nature of the Asir region and the diversity of its heritage helped to fuel enthusiasm among the youth, prompting them to discover more about their roots, and to delve deeper into the beautiful traditions of their history. Such enthusiasm is demonstrated in the high prevalence of young contemporary artists who seek to describe this history through their work.”

Al-Omar noted that “This forum means a lot for the youth of Asir, especially as they find valuable opportunities within it to interact with, and learn about, their heritage. In this way, they feel able to contribute to preserving and developing it.”