News

Monday 9 December 2019

Gala Evening “Russian-Arab Cultural Dialogue” by Sheikh Zayed Book Prize Organizing Committee

 
On December the 9th, 2019, a gala evening was held organized by the Institute of Oriental Studies and the Organizing Committee of the Sheikh Zayed Book Prize. The gala evening took place in the hall “Moscow” of the Ritz Carlton Hotel. It was named “Russian-Arab Cultural Dialogue”.

The following officials made a welcoming speech: V.V. Naumkin (organizer-moderator of the meeting) the President of the Institute of Oriental Studies, the laureate of the Russian Federation State Prize, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ph.D. M.L. Bogdanov, the Special Representative of the President of Russia in the Middle East, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Deputy Chairman of the Imperial Orthodox Church Palestinian Society, U.S. Pulia, the Head of the Department of Periodical Press, Book Publishing, and Printing of the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications, and Maadad Khareb Megeir Jaber Al Hailey, the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to Russia.

All the high-ranked guests who gave speech from the tribune were united by the thesis, that had been discussed on the backstage before the celebration: “tonight is the night, when we do not talk politics, but discuss what unites Russians and Arab peoples: that is culture, literature, poetry, and music."

The invited string trio performed live Arabic music amidst the meeting panels, confirming the topic of the event.

Then, the Arab music was replaced with applause by the potpourri of the famous Russian compositions Katyusha and Kalinka ...

Carrying on the evening, V.V. Naumkin, the President of the Institute of Oriental Studies, the Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Dr. Ali bin Tamim (organizer of the meeting) the Chairman of the Office of the Arabic Language in Abu Dhabi and the General Secretary of the Book Prize Sheikh Zayed, the Curator of Cultural Projects in the UAE, Ph.D. V.A. Kuznetsov, the Head of the Arab Studies Center of the Institute of Oriental Studies, D.V. Mikulsky, Doctor of Historical Sciences, the Chief Scientific Researcher, the Head of the Historical Source Sector, the Member of the Scientific Council of the Institute of Oriental Studies, told the assembled guests about the history of the Institute of Oriental Studies and about the Sheikh Zayed Book Prize, as well as about the historical and modern pages of Russian and Arab culture development, literature, poetry, as well as the new ways and possibilities of exploring our civilizations, the East and the West.

The gathered Russian and foreign guests were able to communicate informally with each other after the solemn, official part of the evening. Also they answered the questions of the journalists who were present at the evening.