Katara hosts annual meeting of General Assembly of GPDNet

Katara – the Cultural Village Foundation will host the fifth General Assembly of the Global Public Diplomatic Network (GPDNet) from 2pm to 4pm today at the Drama Theatre.Representatives from nine countries, Hungary, the Philippines, Nigeria, Singapore, Turkey, Mozambique, Taiwan, South Korea and Mexico, in addition to Qatar, will be present.The meeting will discuss a number of topics, including the future plan among member states, in addition to the means of co-operation among them and attracting new countries to join, Katara has said in a statement. They will also discuss the achievements of the GPDNet over the past year.Dr Khalid al-Sulaiti, general manager of Katara, said: “We look forward to further fruitful discussions that are important in light of the international changes around us and the need to find effective solutions that will link between cultures and bring people together”.He stressed that culture is the best way nations can communicate through despite the differences between cultures. “The difference between cultures is a source of integration and coexistence and understanding between them,” he added.The member states of the GPDNet are represented by a president who is a head of a scientific cultural institution, which is currently under the presidency of Sherif Atis from Turkey, head of the Yunus Emre Institute.The GPDNet was founded in Seoul in 2014 by public and cultural institutions in the Philippines, Sweden, Korea, Taiwan, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal, Singapore and Turkey, as well as Yunus Emre Institute. Qatar acquired membership in 2017. The GPDNet aims to enable the exchange of knowledge in the theoretical and practical fields, and to establish bilateral or multilateral projects among cultural and public diplomacy institutions around the world.