The Qatar-Indonesia Year of Culture officially kicked off at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) in Doha, Qatar on March 12.

The special focus of the year will be placed on projects that will promote cooperation in the fields of culture and creative arts in both Indonesia and Qatar, and develop a sustainable and long-term partnership between the two nations. The programme includes a variety of cultural events that will take place in both countries throughout 2023.

In her speech at the event, Chairperson of the Qatar Museum (QM) Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani said that the partnership in the field of art and creativity between Qatar and Indonesia will contribute to promoting the bilateral relations to a new height.

The implementation of initiatives of arts, culture and humanitarian exchange is expected to create opportunities for the people of the two countries to understand each other better, specifically through innovative programmes in fashion, theatre, culinary arts, education, sports, film production and museum, she said.

Through coordination and knowledge sharing, the sides will have an opportunity to gain experience in building a creative economy, including a lifestyle deeply imbued with cultural identity, she added.

For his part, Indonesian Ambassador to Qatar Ridwan Hassan said that the Year of Culture is basically in line with Indonesia's national motto "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika" which means ‘unity in diversity’

With its population of over 279 million people, Indonesia consists of thousands of distinct native ethnic and hundreds of linguistic groups. Meanwhile, Qatar is the epitome of diversity in the Middle East, with a population of more than 100 nationalities. These similarities make it easy for the two countries to build a strong cooperative relationship./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency