The General Secretariatof the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will launch the first edition of the OIC Festival (5-9 February 2019) in Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt.
The OIC Secretary General, Dr. Yousef Ahmed Al-Othaimeen, expressed his thanks and appreciation to the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt, as the first Member State to host the festival in its first edition. The Secretary General also expressed his full confidence that the concerned parties in Egypt with their broad experience in organizing international events will ensure the festival’s success.
Al-Othaimeen noted that the idea of this festival is anchored in the OIC’s keenness to stimulate rapprochement between the peoples of the Member States and the Muslim communities in other countries outside the OIC fold. The festival, he said, will serve as platform for interaction between the peoples of the Islamic world, intellectually, politically and socially, and also to acquaint themselves with each other’s folklore, products and even local cuisine, through light activities and itinerant events.
The Secretary General also expressed his confidence that the festival will further be instrumental in strengthening solidarity based on unity of faith and diversity of customs, traditions, languages and peoples’ heritage. It will also encourage the willingness to develop joint Islamic action with paradigms that are close to the interests of both the general public and the elite, and to enhancevisibility for the OIC as the second largest international organization after the United Nations, and highlighting its role, its activities and objectives in the service of the Islamic World and humanity at large.
Al-Othaimeen went on to say that the OIC General Secretariat’s aim, through this festival, is to provide an opportunity to all Member States to partake in hosting this periodic event, to showcase their everyday life dimensions, the facets of their innovativeness, the diversity of their compositions and their integrated achievements so as to consolidate the Islamic World’s unity and mutuality at the popular level. The Festival will also entrench the Islamic and humanitarian values which advocate tolerance, coexistence and rejection of extremism and terrorism through all the activities, and also present the brimful potential of the Member States in terms of economic opportunities, humanitarian actions, political and developmental success, through attractive modalities coupled with an insight into the experiences of Muslims and their daily life in the non-Muslim countries.
The first edition of the OIC festival due to be held in Egypt will include handicraft and heritage exhibitions, traditional costume parades and fineart shows, along with intellectual and cultural seminars, folklore, poetry and artistic events to be staged by the participating groups from Member States, as well as a marathon and exploration tours in Cairo for the benefit of the participating States.The inaugural ceremony will also include honoring a number of prominent figures in different fields from the Member States.