Seminar discusses steps to preserve national identity

Qatar’s Second National Identity Seminar, held under the patronage of HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani, concluded yesterday in Doha.
Vodafone Qatar was the exclusive sponsor of the seminar, which explored “The role of educational institutions in promoting national identity” and was organised by the Qatar Heritage and Identity Centre.
The seminar was attended by local and international experts to discuss factors affecting national identity. It also covered a number of topics on the necessity of preserving a state’s national identity by promoting the role of educational institutions.
Dr Khalid Youssef al-Mulla, executive director of Qatar Heritage and Identity Centre, said: “I would thank HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani for generously extending his patronage to this seminar for the second time. I would also like to thank Vodafone Qatar for its exclusive sponsorship and supporting our will to preserve our national identity.
“We were able to come up with a number of recommendations on the importance of preserving national identity through promoting the role of educational institutions, just as we planned for from the beginning.”
These include emphasising the influential role of curricula in forming national identity, intellectually and culturally opening up and interacting with others without compromising the fundamentals of one’s identity, balancing foreign and local cultures, translating foreign books into Arabic so that children read nothing but Arabic, strengthening the role of language as an essential component in Arab characters, values, customs and traditions, and parents taking responsibility for maintaining national identity in their children, among others.
Dr al-Mulla concluded the second day by honouring the seminar’s participants, who shared their experiences and studies on preserving the Arabic identity and Qatari heritage.
The participants were Dr Khalid bin Salem al-Ghassani - GCC assistant secretary-general for cultural and media affairs, Mohamed al-Yami - director of external affairs at Vodafone Qatar, Dr Mohamed Abdul-Rahim Kafoud, Dr Rabia al-Kuwari, Dr Kaltham al-Ghanim - director of the Centre for Humanities and Social Sciences, Dr Mohamed Akif Kershaje from Turkey, Mohamed Hammam, Dr Maysara Taher - manager of Beit Al Mashoora Psychological Consultancy in Saudi Arabia, Dr Fatima al-Suwaidi - vice-president of the Qatar University Department of Arabic Language, Saleh Gharib, Dr Aisha al-Hashimi, Dr Khalid al-Jaber, Dr Yunis Luledy from Morocco and Hamad al-Hammadi - government relations manager at Vodafone Qatar.
“We are very proud of our partnership with Qatar Heritage and Identity Centre for the second consecutive year and the seminar’s success,” said al-Yami.
As part of the seminar’s second day, a number of experts discussed topics on how to preserve the Arabic identity in the light of developments taking place in the region and in Qatar.