The Ministry of Culture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented by the Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO), in coordination with the Saudi National Commission for Education, Culture and Science, for the creation of the Arab Translation Observatory, one of the projects implemented by Saudi Arabia jointly with ALECSO.
The establishment of the Observatory reflects the increasing role of Saudi national institutions in supporting the work of ALECSO, as part of the keen interest of H.H. Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan Al Saud, Minister of Culture, President of the Saudi National Commission, to provide the needed resources and facilities to increase the presence and strengthen the role of Saudi Arabia in all ALECSO’s fields of action.
The Minister of Culture expressed his thanks and appreciation for the royal patronage of this initiative and for the wise leadership’s support for joint Arab action. He commended the significant level of cooperation between the Saudi Ministry of Culture and ALECSO, and indicated that the Arab Translation Observatory will directly and effectively contribute to the sharing of knowledge within the Arab society. He added that the Observatory reflects the Kingdom’s keen interest to enhance the status of the Arabic language in the world, and to promote the preservation and digitization of bibliographic data, by collecting the largest amount of information and databases that contribute to the development of the translation sector. The Observatory will also promote cooperation, integration, and the sharing of expertise and knowledge with relevant organizations, institutions and experts, especially in terms of monitoring, documentation, analysis.
For his part, Dr. Mohamed Ould Amar, Director-General of ALECSO, expressed his thanks to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented by the Ministry of Culture and the Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission, for the qualitative partnership and cooperation between ALECSO and Saudi Arabia which covers various fields, including the coordination of Arab efforts to enhance the translation movement in the Arab world. He stressed that this partnership comes at a time when the Arab world needs to keep pace with the global knowledge and cultural movement and to promote the sharing of expertise and knowledge with all countries of the world. Accordingly, translation from and into Arabic will be one of the key projects which should be supported through the use of modern technologies. He added that the Arab Translation Observatory will serve as a platform for sharing knowledge, for monitoring and documenting the translation movement in the Arab world, and for enhancing the translation industry.
