On the 9th of April, the first preparatory meeting before the Second Arab Report for Cultural Development was held in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.  The meeting was attended by the Foundation's Secretary General Dr. Suleiman AbdulMoneim and an elite of Arab thinkers and intellectuals including Dr. Abdullah Al-Oussaimin, Dr. Adnan Al-Amin, Dr. Jamal Ghittas, Dr. Nabil Ali, Dr. Mahmoud Khalil, Mr. Abed Wazen, Dr. Ibrahim Al-Aris, Dr. Mary Elias, Dr. Ahmad Baydoun, and the journalists Zahi Wehbe and Abed Al-Karim Al-Afnan.

This meeting took place last year, after the Arab Thought Foundation issued its First Arab Report for Cultural Development and received very good reviews from the media and the cultural circles. This Report will cover the cultural development status in around 20 Arab countries and will specifically focus this year on cultural developmental matters, such as the cultural discourse in the media and the community’s role in financing higher education. The report will also talk about IT as a booster for cultural development. There will be an emphasis on the annual cultural harvest, including a following up on the most important cultural and intellectual matters and phenomena that occupied the Arab World last year.

The preparatory meeting resulted in an action plan and its methodology following in depth negotiations between the people preparing the Report and the rest of the attendees. In addition, a discussion about the use of some terms, such as “Arab World”, “ Arab Nation”, and “Arab Countries”… etc took place, as each of these terms is linked to a particular ideological dimension in view of one’s Arab identity and affiliation. Therefore, some suggested using the term “Arab Region” for its geographical indication while others insisted on using the term “Arab Nation”. Eventually, the discussion resulted in the necessity of linking the use of these terms to the cultural and methodological context used in each topic.