UAE | Heritage and Culture
Cultural contribution of Arabs 'on the decline'
The dwindling Arab cultural contribution was highlighted yesterday by General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.
- By Mohammad Shamseddine, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 April 4, 2007
- Image Credit: WAM
- Shaikh Mohammad speaking at the ceremony honouring the winners of the Shaikh Zayed Book Award.
Abu Dhabi: The dwindling Arab cultural contribution was highlighted yesterday by General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.
Shaikh Mohammad was speaking on Monday at a ceremony held in the Abu Dhabi Exhibition Centre to honour the winners of the Shaikh Zayed Book Award.
"Facts regarding culture in the Arab world are not very reassuring. There are 300 million Arabs in the Arab world, but only 5,600 books are being produced a year, compared to 100,000 books in North America and 40,000 in South America and the Caribbean in one year in 2003," he said.
Shaikh Mohammad said the award aims to immortalise the values the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan stood for. "We hope this prize helps to narrow the cultural gap between the Arab world and the rest of the world."
Shaikh Mohammad said the UAE has kept its doors open to creativity and nurtures talent and promotes creativity. Quoting a 2005 Unesco report, he said the average reading time of an Arab citizen does not exceed two minutes per year but it exceeds six hours per year in Europe.
Winners
- Shaikh Zayed Award for Development and Building of the Country: Dr Basheer Mohammad Al Kadra
- Shaikh Zayed Award for Children's Book:
Dr Mohammad Ali Ahmad - Shaikh Zayed Award for Young Author: Mahmoud Zeen Al Abideen
- Shaikh Zayed Award for Translation: George Zinati
- Shaikh Zayed Award for Literature: Wassim Al Araj
- Shaikh Zayed Award for Art: Dr Tharwat Ukasha
- Shaikh Zayed Award for Personality of the Year in the Field of Culture: Denys Johnson Davis
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