By Peter TownsonThe Arabic translation of Daisaku Ikeda’s book on peace, culture and education, The World is Yours to Change, was launched in Qatar at a ceremony last night, where the importance of cross cultural understanding was highlighted by a number of guests and experts.Ikeda is the president of Soka Gakkai International (SGI), a non-profit organisation registered with the UN and aimed at “developing positive human potential of hope, courage and altruistic action.” He has written some 100 works in his aim to develop global understanding and the fostering of peace and harmony, including The World is Yours to Change, which contains messages about the importance of young people.A winner of the United Nations Peace Award among numerous other accolades, Ikeda was unable to attend yesterday’s event but he sent a message to be delivered in his absence, expressing his gratitude for the assistance he has received in getting his book launched in Qatar.“The World is Yours to Change is a collection of essays that I wrote over the years for youth, upon whose shoulders rests the future of humanity,” he said.“I have long believed that the daunting task of building a robust and principled world of peace and harmony can only be entrusted to our youth,” he noted, adding “driven by this belief my life has been a constant challenge, an unremitting struggle to test the limits of what one individual can and must do to ensure the realisation of such a future.”Pre-eminent Arab poet, Shihab Ghanem penned the foreword to the book, and he was the guest of honour at yesterday’s launch where he discussed the importance of the message contained between its covers.He praised Ikeda for his work over the years in fostering closer relations between people from different parts of the world, and he recognised the relevance of identifying the potential of the world’s youth to change history in light of recent events in the Middle East.“I am greatly honoured to participate in this event, to discuss Ikeda’s ideas is always enjoyable as he is a very humanistic person,” said Ghanem, adding “this is a very interesting book by a man who is a lifelong fighter for the good of humanity, for promoting peace and other human values.”SGI has over 12mn members and as the regional member of the larger group, SGI Gulf helped to arrange the publication of the book as part of its efforts to foster better relations between different nationalities through the use of culture.?The book is already available in the UAE and will be distributed in Qatar by Dar Al Sharq before its launch in Bahrain, Kuwait and elsewhere in the future.The launch ceremony also included a performance by Doha Jazz band, who played a fusion of Arabic and traditional jazz flavours to show how music can be used to communicate and cross conventional cultural boundaries.