Towards the Establishment of the OIC platform for the Protection and Conservation of Cultural Heritage in the Islamic World Towards the Establishment of the OIC platform for the Protection and Conservation of Cultural Heritage in the Islamic World The General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at its headquarters in Jeddah hosted two-day deliberations, October 7-8, to establish the OIC platform for cultural heritage protection and conservation. The workshop brought together delegates of member states and OIC agencies, along with representatives of international organizations and non-member states to discuss how to preserve heritage and archaeological sites in the Muslim world. In his address to the meeting, Secretary General Dr Yousef Al-Othaimeen said, “the OIC cultural heritage protection and conservation platform stems from the Organization’s firm commitment to exert every possible effort to bolster joint Islamic action for the preservation of cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible.” The project, he went on, is a demonstration of the General Secretariat’s commitment to join in the effort to safeguard the global cultural heritage repository, particularly in the Muslim world. Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian, Cultural and Social Affairs Ambassador Tariq Bakheet, speaking on behalf of Dr AlOthaimeen, explained that the objective of the OIC platform is to promote the integration of cultural policies into national development policies and contribute to effective mainstreaming of national cultural policies into international cooperation and development policy.
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The meeting chairperson, Mr Ismail AlHammadi, Chief of the Tangible Heritage Department of the UAE Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development, pointed out that the platform should be seen as an effective springboard for the member states to further stimulate their economies. For his part, the French Consul General and Special Envoy to the OIC underscored the need for international expertise and the combined effort of the OIC and the international community for heritage conservation in the Muslim world. Contribution to Cultural Development The General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) took part in the deliberations of the seventeenth session of the Advisory Council for Cultural Development in the Islamic World, organized by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) in cooperation with the Tunisian Ministry of Cultural Affairs and hosted in Tunis, capital of Tunisia, on 20-21 September 2019. The meeting discussed the documents of the eleventh session of the conference of ministers of cultural affairs in the Member States hosted by the Republic of Tunisia on 17-19 December 2019. It is worth noting that the meeting reviewed the reports on the follow-up of the execution of the Islamic world’s cultural strategy between the tenth and eleventh sessions as well as the report of the Islamic World’s Cultural Heritage Committee, in addition to the two studies submitted to the eleventh con-
ference of the ministers of cultural affairs. On the other hand, the meeting discussed the draft text of the Tunis Declaration for the Reform of the Current Cultural Policies in the Islamic World, in preparation for its adoption by the 11th conference of the Member State’s ministers of cultural affairs, in December next, in Tunis. First Islamic Art Biennale in Riyadh in Cooperation with ISESCO Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan Al Saud, Minister of Culture and Chairman of the National Commission for Education, Science and Culture, has congratulated the Islamic countries on UNESCO’s adoption of a resolution to proclaim 18th November as International Day of Islamic Art. Prince Badr announced that the Islamic Museum in Riyadh would host the first Islamic Art Biennale, which will be held by the Ministry of Culture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in cooperation with Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO). Prince Badr announced this decision on his Twitter account. His Highness added that this Biennale would serve to celebrate and publicize Islamic Art in its diverse forms of expression throughout the ages, and shed light on its role and influence on other artistic movements. In this vein, a joint work team from the Saudi Culture Ministry and ISESCO is due to be set up to coordinate and prepare for the organization of the Biennale, which is the first in its kind, in 2020.
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