The ministers responsible for cultural affairs in the Arab world held their inaugural working session here today. At the outset of the session, the Minister of Culture and Information Dr. Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Khudhairi took the presidency of the nineteenth session from the Minister of Education of the Kingdom of Bahrain and President of the previous session, Dr. Majed bin Ali Al-Naimi. The Minister of Information, Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Chairman of the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters of the State of Kuwait Sheikh Salman bin Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah delivered a speech in which he expressed his thanks to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for hosting the nineteenth session of the Conference, saying "As we meet today, we should remember the civilizational traits of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the patron of this conference, in all the fields which have been appreciated by the world through its academic and humanitarian institutions''. He said, "The UNESCO granting to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques its gold medal, the highest medal to be granted by the organization, comes in recognition of his efforts in promoting the culture of dialogue and peace, as well as granting the King Al-Azhar's honorary doctorate in the humanities and his selection by Sheikh Zayed International Book Award as the Year Cultural Personality, these are all in recognition of his great role in promoting peace and dialogue in a very sensitive area for the whole world. " --More 16:16 LOCAL TIME 13:16 GMT تغريد
