Minister of Culture of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, H E Haifa Al Najjar, stressed the need for a strategy to achieve Arab integration in the field of culture, in light of the presence of many common points that establish the language in which nearly 400 million Arabs understand each other.
This came during a lecture delivered by the Jordanian Minister of Culture, in the presence of Minister of Culture, H E Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Hamad Al Thani, Ambassador of of Jordan to Qatar, H E Zaid Mufleh Al Lawzi, and a group of Arab intellectuals, within the cultural activities of the 31st Doha International Book Fair, which is currently held at Doha Exhibition and Convention Center.
The Jordanian Minister of Culture said that Arab culture was subject, in its formation, to a number of chal-lenges posed by the geopolitical location, the economic and social sit-uation of the region and its major issues, foremost of which is the Palestinian cause.
She pointed out that Arab culture is related to Arabism, not as a race or nationality, but as a language, which has a great deal of commonalities, including language, common history, customs and traditions, religions, values and morals, territorial integrity, and a common goal and destiny.
At the same time, she stressed that this rapprochement does not mean the obliteration of local identities, stressing the importance of a flexible public per-ception of inclusive culture that respects privacy, and allows it to have freedom of demo-cratic interaction and a lively approach to each other.
H E Al Najjar added that any fruitful cultural discourse must not only believe in assimilating all the different internal com-ponents, but must also be reconciled within the framework of national, ethnic and cultural diversity, and focus on the peaceful aspect of cultural discourse, pointing to our need to develop the ability of future generations to optimally manage difference and diversity. She also addressed the impor-tance of promoting a knowledge-based economy so that creativity is a means of development and not only a burden on governments, calling at the same time for the concerted public of Arab govern-ments, the private sector and civil society institutions to achieve an Arab strategy that enhances the desired Arab integration in the field of culture
