Dr Hayat Abdullah Maarafi, the Executive Director of QatarDebate Centre, addressing the gathering.
By Joseph Varghese/Staff Reporter
The second edition of the International Universities Arabic Debate Championship held under the auspices of HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation, got underway at Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) yesterday. A total of 44 universities from 27 countries are participating in the event.
Around 250 debaters are participating in the competition from all the Arab countries except Syria. Teams from six non-Arabic countries - the US, the UK, Canada, Australaia, Turkey and Malaysia - are also participating in the championship.
The first international universities Arabic debate competition was held in 2011.
Opening the championship, Dr Hayat Abdullah Maarafi, the Executive Director of QatarDebate Centre, said that it was a great occasion to watch so many teams participating in the second edition of the championship.
She said: “The second version of the Arabic tournament is part of the centre’s efforts to promote the art of debate in Arabic language and raise awareness about its importance in preparing future generations and training future leaders on values and better serve the interest of the Arab culture, identity and language.”
The central significance of the championship is to make it a meeting venue for self-discovery, establishing connections and exchanging opinions among various countries and the participants, she added.
The theme of the championship for this year is a tree-shaped symbol with leaves representing the participating countries. It represents the different views and opinions of the participating teams but eventually all are rooted in the same trunk explaining the consensus of the viewpoints in debate. The motto for the debate is ‘An Arabic Ceremonial of Debate and Dialogue.’ During the opening ceremony, there was a musical performance by two Qatari youngsters. There was also a short video presentation on the activities of QatarDebate Centre.
During the first day, the teams took part in the first and second rounds of the competition. The teams were allocated the topics of debate half an hour before the competitions. The third and fourth rounds of the competitions will be held today. With it, all the preliminary rounds of the competitions will be completed. Tomorrow the quarter-finals and the semi-finals of the championship will be held. The finals will take place on Wednesday evening.