KUWAIT: PRESIDENT SILAJDZIC MET WITH EMIR SHEIKH AL SABAH

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait (October 29,2008) - The Bosnian President Dr Haris Silajdžić is visiting Kuwait.The aim of the visit id continuing cooperation between the two countries, notably in the area of economy.President Silajdžić met yesterday with the Emir of Kuwait Sheik Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah.They talked about the ways of improvement of political and economic cooperation between Kuwait and Bosnia.

The delegation which accompanied Chairman Silajdžić to Kuwait comprised CEOs from following Bosnian companies : Faruk Širbegović, (the Širbegović company), Elvedin Borovina, (Hidrogradnja), Amer Bukvić, (BBI bank), Hamed Ramić, (Euroasphalt), and Medaga Hodžić (BH 4 d.o.o. Jajce).

President Silajdžić also attended the opening of „the International conference on cultural dialogue“, was held under the patronage of Kuwait Emir Sheik Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah and organized by the Babtain Foundation.

This foundation is a unique international organization, which implements a dozen programs of global character related to culture and dialogue between peoples and religions. Apart from yhe Bosnian President Haris Silajdžić, Libyan Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, officials from Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, France, Algeria, the USA, the Sudan, the UK, Saudi Arabia and other countries also attended the ceremony.

The occasion for holding the conference, as was mentioned at the opening, is publishing the only encyclopedia of the poetry in the world, „ the Babtain encyclopedia of Arabic poetry of the 19th and 20th centuries“. The encyclopedia, published after eleven years of work, including 560 world renowned experts, contains biographies of poets and 8000 selected poems depicting a dialogue of different cultures and civilisations.

In his address, Abdulaziz Saud Al Babtain, Chairman of the Babtain foundation, said that Kuwait was a geographically small country, but thanks to abundant, selfless cultural funds Kuwait has long since transcended its geographical boundaries.

According to Al Babtain, the culture gains prominency in the age of globalization because it builds bridges between the worlds, and the strength lies, as he put it, in the variety of cultures, in the function of bringing the worlds together because understanding between peoples through culture contributes to the peace.

The Babtain foundation finances students who study Arabic language from every continent, presenting annual rewards for contribution in the area of culture and strengthening multicultural and multireligious cooperation and tolerance and has departments on dozen universities in Europe and the USA. Also, the foundation boasts a unique library containing half a million books from various genres of the literature written throughout centuries.
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