Katara - the Cultural Village Foundation has hosted the Gastro-Diplomacy Forum, organised by the Global Public Diplomacy Network at Katara, with the participation of host country Qatar, Mexico, Tajikistan and Georgia, Nigeria, Hungary, the Philippines, Romania, Kenya and Bulgaria.
The forum was chaired by Darwish Ahmed al-Shaibani, secretary-general of the Global Public Diplomacy Network, in the presence of the ambassadors of the participating countries.



The sessions focused on cultural diplomacy related to the culinary art and its relationship with national identity.
For his part, al-Shaibani said: “The Gastro-Diplomacy Forum demonstrates the importance of gastronomic diplomacy in setting up a mechanism for promoting countries’ cultures in tourism and culture at a broad level.”



The event highlighted the impact of culinary diplomacy at the economic, cultural and civilisational levels as well as in terms of social influence, in addition to enhancing understanding and consensus in international relations, and the goals it achieves that classical diplomatic channels cannot accomplish.



Al-Shaibani noted that the forum is launching new programmes and projects, considered the first of their kind. They are centred on promoting the methods of culinary art, presenting the many colours of traditional meals.



He added that culinary art highlighted peoples’ identity, roots and arts, pointing to the many experiences achieved by some countries in the adoption of culinary diplomacy or gastronomy.