First Edition of OIC Festival in Cairo Raises down Its Curtains

By: Ali Abu-Dashish

CAIRO, Feb. 11 (SEE)-On Saturday, 11 February, the first edition of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) launched by Dr. Enas Abdel-Dayem, Minister of Culture closed its doors. It lasted for five days under the slogan "One Nation and Multiple Cultures" ,"Palestine in the Heart" .

This festival was organized in cooperation with the Ministries of Culture, Foreign Affairs, Youth, Sports and Antiquities.

It included a range of cultural and artistic activities and events in order to emphasize the noble values of Islam, which calls for tolerance, renunciation of violence and extremism and the unity of the Islamic nation.

The ceremonies were attended by a number of ambassadors and delegations of the participating member countries.

During the ceremony, on behalf of the Minister of Culture, Dr. Said Al Masry, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Culture, said that the festival is a new beginning to strengthen the cultural and artistic cooperation between the member countries.

She pointed out that the activities are a message of peace, tolerance and dialogue among civilizations that strengthen Islamic institutions that led to the success of this edition.

The closing ceremony, which was directed by the artist Hisham Atwa, started with playing the national anthem, followed by a presenting an Egyptian Maritime Scouts team.

Later, 27 personalities and institutions from various countries were honored for their contributions in the preparation of this edition. The states included Egypt, Azerbaijan, UAE, Benin, Burkina Faso Sudan, Somalia, Guinea, Palestine, Cameroon, Kuwait, Mali, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Yemen, Indonesia, Libya, Central Africa, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.

Afterwards , the Egyptian folk arts troupe and some the troupes of the member countries presented shows representing the cultural heritage of their countries .