The King Abdul Aziz Center for National Dialogue has invited over 70 Saudi male and female intellectuals to participate in discussions at the upcoming national dialogue dubbed “Identity, Globalization in National Cultural Discourse.” The dialogue will be held on June 1 and 2 in Riyadh. This national meeting, the second on national cultural discourse, is an extension of the work of the first meeting this year in Al-Ahsa labeled “National Cultural Discourse and its Future Prospects”. This is according to Secretary General of the Center, Faisal Bin Abdulrahman Bin Muammar. Bin Muammar conceded it was a “daunting task” to provide an honest estimation of the current reality of cultural discourse in one or two meetings. He said he wants the center to have ongoing discussions on this issue. This second meeting will cover topics on citizenship in Saudi Arabia, globalization and Saudi society, and the future of cultural discourse. Bin Muammar said that the scholarly gathering will address the cultural discourse of various aspects related to Saudi Arabia, and involves a “good number” of intellectuals from across the cultural spectrum in the Kingdom. The meetings aim to reach a consensus on the main highlights of the future cultural discourse in the Kingdom, to take on the challenges lying ahead of an international heavyweight country like Saudi Arabia, he said. The participants have been encouraged to come up with a future cultural discourse to reflect the public aspiration for development of cross-cultural discourse and integration into world culture.
