Saudi-French consultative body mooted to promote cultural dialogue 

(MENAFN - Arab News) The 3rd edition of the Saudi-French Seminar for the Dialogue of Cultures, which concluded here yesterday, has recommended formation of a consultative authority with members from Saudi and French universities for promoting a dialogue of cultures.

The participants also underlined the need for establishing an academic chair to encourage translation of major scientific, intellectual and literary works from Arabic to French and vice versa.

Several prominent figures, including academics and educational experts from the Saudi and French universities, participated in the seminar with the theme of "Arab Islamic Thought in Europe: Reality and Role."

The Ministry of Higher Education, represented by the Saudi cultural attach in Paris, organized the two-day event, in collaboration with King Abdulaziz University (KAU) in Jeddah. Minister of Higher Education Khaled Al-Anqari opened the seminar on Saturday. The seminar was regarded as a major step in support of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah's call to promote interfaith and intercultural dialogues as a means to establish world peace.

While underscoring the significance of promoting dialogue through holding a series of activities, such as seminars and scientific forums, the participants pledged their full support to King Abdullah's dialogue initiative. The final communiqu, adopted by the participants, called for continuing the seminar as an annual event. It has also proposed implementing recommendations of the second edition of the conference held in Sorbonne University, Paris, for the creation of two chairs - first, a joint chair for Islamic economics between KAU and Sorbonne University, and the second, for promoting dialogue of cultures with the partnership of Sorbonne University and Imam Muhammad bin Saud University, Riyadh.

The seminar explored the prospect of launching a website under the supervision of Saudi and French specialists in order to disseminate the concepts, features and technical terms of Islamic economics.

Speaking to Arab News, Abdullah Al-Khateeb, Saudi cultural attach in Paris, hoped that the next editions of the seminar would be more comprehensive with the participation of academics and researchers from all European countries, including the Vatican. He also underlined the need for using curriculum as an effective medium to promote the dialogue of cultures and foster a culture of tolerance among peoples across the world.

There were four sessions for the seminar, of which two were held on Saturday. Abdullah Al-Tayer chaired the third session, with the theme "Role of translation in the intellectual continuation," yesterday. A number of working papers focusing on the role of translation in bringing Islamic and Arab thought to Europe were presented. These included Donier Gharbal's paper on "Translation of works in Arab Islamic thought and its impact on France since the middle of the 20th century," and Ameerah Kashghari's paper titled "Translation between bridging cultural gaps and widening them."

Working papers were also presented by Bandar Al-Otaiby ("Role of translation in transferring and indigenizing knowledge"), Fatehiyah Aqab ("Translation and Arab Islamic thought in Europe"), Ibrahim Al-Blui ("Role of translation in cultural contacts: Translating from Arabic and vice versa"), Qadriyah Awad ("Significance and role of translation in cultural contacts and dialogues") and Luk Rublosco ("Literary translation between technological knowledge and humanities").

Zuhair Al-Damanhouri presided over the fourth and last session that focused on Islamic economics. The papers presented in the session included "Contribution of Islamic jurisprudence in laying down rules of financial transactions," "Principles of modern economic theory and separation between sciences and morality," "Interaction of Western laws (French civil and English common) with Islamic jurisprudence," "Some philosophic and economic concepts in Islam pertaining to contemporary financial ethics," "Theory of financial risks and cultural dialogue," "Influence of Islamic civilization on Western economy in the past and present," "Islamic values of financing - positive aspects of a different vision," and "Contribution of Muslim scholars in laying down the foundations of the economic development theories."