The Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) hosted, on January 20, 2025 at its headquarters in Tunis, the Symposium on the “Language Policy System in Arab Countries”. The event is organized by King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language (KSGAAL) in collaboration with ALECSO. It was attended by representatives from Arab embassies in Tunisia, academics and officials from the Academy, experts from ALECSO and KSGAAL, and linguists and language planning specialists from Tunisia and other Arab countries.
The Symposium addressed the implementation mechanisms of the Arab Language Policy System project, and the launch of a database of Arab language policies. It also discussed the findings and recommendations of the report on language policies in Arab countries.
In his opening remarks, H.E. Dr. Mohamed Ould Amar, Director-General of ALECSO, welcomed all guests and participants, and expressed sincere thanks to the King, Government, and people of Saudi Arabia for the sustained support to ALECSO and for the Saudi institutions’ fruitful cooperation in all the Organization’s fields of action, including the promotion of the Arabic language. He extended thanks to the President, Government, and people of Tunisia for hosting the Organization and providing continuous support to it.
The Director-General stated that since its inception, ALECSO has been keen on enhancing cooperation and partnership with Arab institutions dedicated to serving the Arabic language. He expressed pride in ALECSO’s fruitful partnership with KSGAAL, which has yielded the Arab Language Policy System project. He noted that this qualitative scientific project is designed to serve and empower the Arabic language, by monitoring the language-related legislative and legal texts established by each Arab country in such areas as politics, education, law, economics, administration, culture, and others.
For his part, H.E. Dr. Khaled Al-Qousi, Director of the Language Policy Department at KSGAAL, presented the Arab Language Policy System project launched by the Academy and ALECSO. This initiative aims to build a comprehensive database of language policies in Arab countries across various sectors, to be made accessible to researchers, decision-makers, and other relevant stakeholders.
Dr. Al-Qousi outlined the main goals of the project, including in particular :
- Raising awareness of the importance of language policies;
- Providing access to the language policy database for relevant researchers, specialists, and decision-makers;
- Facilitating coordination and integration among Arab countries in terms of language policy development;
- Identifying the challenges faced by Arab countries in terms of language policy formulation and implementation.
Partnership between KSGAAL and ALECSO is governed by a Cooperation Agreement approved by the Saudi Cabinet, aimed at serving and promoting the Arabic language and supporting joint initiatives in this regard.
