The Minister of Culture, Dr. Ghassan Salama, received in his office at the National Library – Sanayeh, the President of the Francophone University Agency in Lebanon, Salim Khalbous, the Regional Director of the Agency in the Middle East, Jean-Noel Balliot, and the Assistant Regional Director of the Agency, Cynthia Raad. It was a horizon tour on cooperation with the Ministry of Culture in a series of projects, according to what Mr. Khalbous announced after the meeting, when he said: “I was honored to meet Minister Salama, and it was a very useful meeting, as During which we discussed identifying a series of joint projects, which can be implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture, which are, within the framework of the Minister’s duties, “Culture and Francophonie.”
As for culture, we talked about cooperation in the field of cultural and creative industries (ICC), and encouraging university education in this field in particular. The organization runs the largest university network in the world, and the idea is to mobilize universities for training in the field of cultural and creative industries. We also touched on the issue of strengthening Lebanon’s position in the Francophone space. Lebanon is a trilingual country, but it is proud of its Francophone, and I hope that together we can work to preserve a beautiful Francophone that reflects the diversity of thought and science that exists in Lebanon.”
In turn, Minister Salama said: “I was pleased to receive the head of the Agency for French-speaking universities, as half of the Lebanese universities and even the largest universities are members of this organization that is of interest to Lebanon, especially since the regional center is based in the capital, Beirut, and from there the work begins in all Arab countries. We talked about what the organization could contribute to the broad consultative dialogue that we began with the various cultural sectors, and the most important thing is what was discussed about the process.” Focus on cultural industries, whose strategy we will announce early next year.” (National Agency)
