National Day: Culture Ministry Continues to Play Key Role in Qatar's Renaissance

Doha, December 15 (QNA) - The Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage is one of the public institutions in the state of Qatar that plays key role in the country's path of renaissance and success. The Ministry has a number of accomplishments including the more than 70 events at Katara cultural village. In the context of the future projects of Katara is a development tender to set a comprehensive strategy, a human resources system, as well as the evaluation and development of the staff. The ministry also organized several events including entertaining events for the elderly at the Qatar foundation for the elderly people care, as well as a National Day event that took place at the Koot citadel at Souq Waqif last December. The visual arts center of the ministry also held a number of events including a visual arts forum for the gulf countries artists and an exhibition for the contemporary Egyptian sculpture in collaboration with Egypt Gallery. Also last year there were a number of seminars held including one on Women literature and another under the title beyond the Arab Spring last January, as well as poetry nights of Qatari poets and others for Arab poets in Doha. Internationally, the Ministry took part at a number of exhibitions including Khartoum's 10th Book Fair, and the hosting of Qatar as a guest of honor at Frankfurt's international book fair. The research and studies department at the ministry also held a translation workshop for the post graduates including one in collaboration with college of literature and eastern languages in Toronto, Italy. Meanwhile, the heritage department participated at Mauritania's heritage festival in July last year, and launching (Qatar in the writings of Saif Marzouq Al-Shamlan), and participation in the activities of the "Courier trail" on the occasion of the National Day last year. The "Press and Publications" department has prepared a draft media law in the State of Qatar to be a substitute for the Press and Publications Law Current No. (8) of 1979, and a number of publications about the features of tourism and the Renaissance in the state. It also launched a book that contains the landmarks of Qatar. The "youth activities and events" department at the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage has overseen multiple youth meetings, courses, workshops, and art galleries. Among the most important of these events are International Youth Day in August 2011, and summer activity for young people in July and August 2011, and the labor camp Gulf Youth Council countries of the Gulf Cooperation Finland in October last year. The Ministry also launched a series of "The Book of Doha" including (Islam between science and civil). The Commission of the State Prize for Children's Literature, during the first quarter of 2012, announced the launch of the fourth session of the State Prize for Children's Literature, and participated in the language and identity conference of the Arab Center for Studies in Doha. (QNA)