The ambassador of Costa Rica, Luis Alberto Guillén Downing, visited Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) yesterday to inaugurate an exhibition at the Education City Student Center, showcasing the diverse arts and crafts, pictures, videos, and traditional costumes of Costa Rica.
The exhibition was part of a cultural week that ended yesterday. The event aimed to introduce the colourful culture of the most visited nation in all of Central America to the community.
The opening of the event, co-organised with the embassy of Costa Rica in Qatar, was also attended by the consul and charge d’affaires Carlos Beer Arguello.
HBKU’s hosting of the Costa Rican cultural week comes as the latest in a series of events that aim to portray a vibrant picture of other customs and traditions.
Maryam Hamad al-Mannai, vice president of student affairs at HBKU, said: “HBKU is a true melting pot and is proud of its community of faculty, researchers and students, who work together with a common goal in mind – to be creative, to pursue excellence in all of their endeavours, and to celebrate their diversity every day.
Without its multicultural student body, HBKU would not be the centre of academic and innovative excellence that it is today. We believe this is something that truly deserves recognition.”
At the inauguration, ambassador Downing delivered a short presentation on Costa Rica to the body of students, staff, faculty of HBKU and the greater Education City community in attendance. In his address, the ambassador highlighted the distinctive historic, cultural, economic, educational, geographic and touristic strengths of the Central American country that is home to 4.5mn people.
Maryam Hamad al-Mannai presents ambassador Luis Alberto Guillu00e9n Downing with a memento.
