Several Egyptian officials from the Sharqia governorate attended the event The Saudi Cultural Centre in Cairo has taken part in Saudi Cultural Day activities organised by the Centre for Asian Studies and Research at Zagazig University. The event included a lecture by Dr Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Rabie, the vice-president of the Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, entitled: Using Indonesia as a model to analyse the state of the Arabic language in East Asia.
The Saudi officials distributed copies of the Qur'an and pictures of the Holy mosques. A documentary about the life of King Abdulaziz al-Saud was also shown.
The event was attended by the governor of Sharqia governorate, Hassan al-Najjar, along with delegates from the Saudi embassy, Vice-President of Zagazig University, Dr Ashraf al-Shehhi, and Secretary-General of the Association of Islamic Universities, Dr Jafar Abdul Salam.
In his welcome speech, Dr Abdul Hakim Eltahawy, Dean of the Centre for Asian Studies and Research explained that the seminar coincides with the 20th anniversary of the department's inception.
Dr Mohammed al-Rabie discussed the importance of the Arabic language, and claimed that despite the pessimism and frustration felt by Arab scientists about the global domination of the English language, there had been an increase in the international demand to learn Arabic after September 11.
He added that around 70,000 schools and universities are offering Arabic courses to seven million students in Indonesia.
Rabie urged Arab countries to promote their national language: "We, the Arabs, must be sincere and devoted to our language to meet the global demand to study our language."