HE the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad al-Muraikhi has said that Qatar pays great attention to building a comprehensive state by working hard to develop its educational, economic, social and cultural policies and directing them towards building a country based on rights for all its citizens and non-discrimination among them.

Speaking during a panel discussion titled "Moving Towards Inclusive State Building" at the Bali Democracy Forum (BDF), HE al-Muraikhi said Qatar also pushing for strengthening the bonds of social integration among all members of society and its different groups.

He said that all of this was strengthened with the imposition of unjust blockade on Qatar, and the united stand of Qatari people in facing the challenges posed by the crisis.

He added that it is well known that the country plays a major and important role in achieving the concept of inclusion in societies, whether in the fields of economy and development or in the field of political participation and decision-making, pointing out that the basic idea of the concept of inclusion is based on the need to involve all members of society in the process of nation building and including the integration of persons who may be excluded or marginalised for various reasons, such as women, minorities and persons with special needs.

HE al-Muraikhi stressed the importance of public policies in the building of a comprehensive state, social integration and citizenship, as the state is the most important actor in society and the most capable of playing a pivotal role in this process through the great potential and the material and moral authority that it has.

He said that public policies work to achieve the goals of inclusion through a number of tools available to the country, such as education, media, political participation, social welfare and cultural programmes, economic and development policies and other areas that enable the country to empower the society.

HE al-Muraihki pointed out that a pattern has been established during the past decades in a large number of the Third World countries in particular, based on "discrimination and exclusion" as a tool of governance by a dominant political and economic elite, working to dismantle society and its ties, isolate groups of the population, systematically discriminate between citizens using political sectarianism based on race, religion, or language as a tool of governance and domination.

He also noted that after decades of these practices that are contrary to the concept of universality, citizenship and integration, most of these countries failed and collapsed, and their disastrous effects still exist today, as is the case in a number of countries.






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