Minister opens youth forum

(MENAFN- Gulf Times) HE the Minister of Culture and Sports, Salah bin Ghanem bin Nasser al-Ali, yesterday opened the second Qatari youth forum organised by the ministry's youth affairs department on the sidelines of the 28th Doha International book Fair, which runs until December 5.
HE the minister toured the forum's pavilions, which include more than 20 youth and girls' centres.
He also inaugurated the youth media centre, which was established based on the recommendations of the first edition of the forum last year. The centre offers several media services in relation to social media.
HE the minister expressed his hope that the centre will be an addition and incubator for Qatari youth interested in media, especially since it has experienced staff, stressing the need to discover young media talents through the centre.
Abdulrahman al-Hajri, director of the youth affairs department, said that the second forum will see many activities, events, workshops and discussion sessions provided by participating youth centres.
He added that the forum will tomorrow establish the youth advisory committee for HE the minister, stressing that holding the forum alongside the book fair unites the efforts of the ministry, while the exhibition is an opportunity for young people to see the latest releases of Arabic and international books and publishing houses.
Al-Hajri said that the second youth forum activities and events are produced by and aimed at Qatari youth.
The preparation of the forum started over a year and a half ago after the end of the first forum and the announcement of its recommendations, he said, noting that the forum will feature the announcement of the first edition's recommendations that have been implemented.
He said that work is underway to develop proposals for youth legislation based on a group of young Qatari lawyers, and the first guide for Qatari entrepreneurs will be launched during the forum.
Hassan al-Saie, director of the youth media centre, said the centre has already started to hold many workshops and lectures in addition to receiving youth initiatives in the field of modern media.
He stressed that the centre is ready to receive all Qatari youths for media qualification, calling on Qatari social media trainers to participate in the training of Qatari youth.
During a discussion at the forum, Hamad al-Fayyad, financial and administrative director of the youth media centre, said that the establishment of the centre was part of the outcomes of the first edition of the forum, pointing out that the centre is keen on providing activities and programmes that aim to achieve the desired goals.
Al-Fayyad added that the centre organised 12 workshops, two seminars, a lecture and four meetings.
In addition, it received three youth initiatives; the first of them aims to develop the media skills of the 16-35 age group through workshops, lectures and theoretical and practical meetings.
The second initiative covers media between the past and the present and focuses on what is presented in social media and the filtering of the positives and negatives and how to put forward positive responses in order to raise the level of social awareness.
The third initiative aims to have live coverage of local events.
Five interactive workshops were held on the first day of the forum, covering modern media and youth, training and rehabilitation in improving performance, violation of privacy, dignity of life, and novel writing.


Intellectual Forum seminars kick off


The Intellectual Forum programme at the Doha International book Fair has been launched in the presence of HE the Minister of Culture and Sports, Salah bin Ghanem al-Ali, and a group of intellectuals with a seminar held under the theme of conditions of knowledge independence.
Ibn Haldun University (IHU) president Recep Senturk lectured in the seminar and discussed the crisis of intellectual relationship between the East and the West due to the Muslim nation's fall under Western colonialism, which resulted in the existence of political dependency first, and then intellectual dependency that continued even after the end of the Western occupation of the East, where it was influenced by the presence of many Western theories in philosophy.
The IHU president explained that the achievement of knowledge independence requires academic and intellectual work and effort, stressing that scientists and young people are now aware of the need to get rid of intellectual dependency, noting that achieving this independence is possible by determining that the goal of education is the production of improved and productive humans, and that there is a curriculum in education that is based on moral aspects and cognitive and rational learning.
Senturk also highlighted the need for creativity rather than imitation as well as indigenisation and comparison while benefiting of heritage and permanent vision towards the future.

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