The first meeting of the leaders of the Maqdesi cultural institutions ended on Thursday (June 1, 2023) at the headquarters of the Bayt Mal Al-Quds Al-Sharif Agency, with the announcement of the Cultural Al-Quds Forum.
This meeting, organized by the Arab Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) in partnership with the Palestinian Ministry of Culture and the Agency and which lasted three days, with the participation of 13 Arab cultural institutions of Al-Quds, was crowned by the announcement of this Forum to bring together defenders and supporters of Arab culture in the city of Al-Quds.
The closing session, which was held in the presence of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication of the Kingdom of Morocco, Mrs. Samira Al-Melizi, Ambassador of the State of Palestine to Morocco, Ambassador Jamal Al-Shobaki, the Director in charge of the management of the Bayt Mal Al-Quds Al-Sharif Agency, Dr. Mohamed Salem Cherkaoui, and the Under-Secretary of the Palestinian Ministry of Culture, Mr. Jad Izzat Mohamed Zaidan, and the representative of the Arab Organization for Education, Culture and Science, Dr. Ahmadou Habibi, saw the presentation of the preliminary characteristics of the project to support and accompany Arab cultural institutions Maqdessies.
In a speech, read on her behalf by Mrs. Samira Al-Melizi, the Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication of the Kingdom of Morocco, Mohamed Al-Mahdi Bensaïd, affirmed the will of the Kingdom of Morocco "to pay particular attention to the recommendations and proposals that resulted from the meeting to put them into practice” and to include them in an official document entitled “The Rabat Declaration to strengthen and consolidate cultural activity in Al-Quds Al-Sharif” , and which will be presented as a reference document in the documents of the 24th session of the Conference of Ministers Responsible for Cultural Affairs of the Arab World, to be held in Marrakech in April 2024.
The Minister recalled the particular interest that His Majesty King Mohammed VI, Chairman of the Al-Quds Committee, has in preserving the historical and cultural identity of Al-Quds Al-Sharif, through cultural, educational and social projects and programs that the Bayt Mal Al-Quds Al-Sharif Agency oversees its implementation with excellence and skill.
For his part, the director in charge of the management of the Bayt Mal Al-Quds Al-Sharif Agency, Dr. Mohamed Salem Cherkaoui, affirmed that the Agency welcomed the useful results of this meeting, expressing its involvement in principle in all initiatives that serve Al-Quds and Maqdessis, indicating that the Agency has laid down, on the High Instructions of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, its cornerstone on this basis, focusing on the culture sector, through an ambitious program of cultural and artistic activities which initially concerned four cultural centres.
This three-day conclave was an opportunity to discuss the urgent needs of cultural institutions in Al-Quds, to develop an action plan to support and accompany them in their activities and to launch initiatives that will help preserve the cultural cachet. and the civilizational fabric of the Holy City and to consecrate its Arab identity, protecting the cultural rights of its inhabitants and strengthening coordination and networking between institutions active in the sector.
This meeting, which coincides with the celebration by the Bayt Mal Al Quds Agency of its silver jubilee, sees the inauguration of a photographic exhibition entitled "Al Quds: Source of lights" and the launch of the ALECSO chair for studies of Al Quds Acharif.
Source: Burkina Information Agency