Muscat: The Sultanate of Oman will join other countries across the world tomorrow in commemorating World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, which is celebrated every year on May 21.
The event attempts to celebrate the diversity of global cultures while stressing the critical role of intercultural communication in promoting peace and sustainable development.
To commemorate the occasion, the Oman National Commission for Education, Culture, and Science, in partnership with the working team of the International Fund for Cultural Diversity (IFCD) in Oman and the Arab League Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization (ALECSO), will host a workshop on May 27-28.
The seminar will examine ways for preparing cultural initiatives to obtain funding from the IFCD.
Cultural variety, as defined by the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of Cultural Expression Diversity (2005), refers to the numerous ways in which cultures of communities and societies are expressed, transmitted within and between groups and communities.
Oman joined the convention in 2007, which seeks to promote diverse forms of cultural expression, build circumstances for cultures to thrive and interact, facilitate intercultural dialogue, strengthen cultural exchange among individuals, and encourage respect for cultural diversity at the local and global levels.
Oman created a functional team for the IFCD, including representatives from several cultural organizations. The team is in charge of discovering and evaluating cultural diversity initiatives, developing a unified framework for associated projects and programs, reviewing and approving bids for IFCD money, and producing reports on the execution of the UNESCO convention.
This year's celebration coincides with UNESCO's commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the convention's adoption in 2005. The goal of the event is to highlight the convention's important achievements while also encouraging policymakers to address issues and possibilities for protecting and promoting cultural diversity.
