Plain Talk

By Mursi Saad El-Din

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It was my belief in cultural exchange which led me to agree to chair a symposium organised by the Assala Foundation for Cultural Development in cooperation with the Supreme Council for Culture. The title of the symposium was "The Role of Cultural Centres and Cultural Attachés in Fostering Dialogue between Cultures".

Another reason for accepting to chair the symposium is the fact that my whole governmental career was devoted to the exchange of culture. My first governmental job was as cultural attaché in London, which I was lucky enough to hold for twelve years.

After a spell at the Higher Council for Arts and Literature I was assigned the job of cultural councillor in Czechoslovakia, Poland and the German Democratic Republic. On my return I was appointed under-secretary of state for foreign cultural relations at the Ministry of Culture.

The symposium was inaugurated by Dessouki Said, the chairman of the Assala Foundation Board of Trustees, who was followed by Sherif El- Shoubashy, first under-secretary of state for foreign cultural relations.

It was both revealing and pleasing to listen to the different cultural representatives of the European Commission Delegation in Egypt: Ms Milojcka Saule; Señor Luis Moratinos Cuyanbe of Spain; James L Bullock, Counsellor for Public Affairs at the US Embassy in Cairo; Jean-Philippe Tachdijan from the Canadian Embassy; and Herr Entio Wetzel, director of programmes at the Goethe Institute.

It was a pleasure to discover that quite a number of countries are keen on having cultural exchange programmes with Egypt. What the representatives submitted, moreover, revealed and reflected their different attitudes towards and concepts of foreign cultural exchange.

Ms Saule explained the three levels on which the EC delegation is carrying out its cultural programmes: bilateral, regional and local. Such programmes include the creation of the Euromed Foundation whose headquarters will be in the Alexandria Library, and the aim of which is to act as a means for developing and strengthening the dialogue between European and Mediterranean cultures and civilisations.

Señor Cuyanbe gave a survey of the many and varied activities in the field of cultural relations organised by the Spanish Cultural Centre which he directs. The latest of these was a seminar organised by the Centre and the Supreme Council for Cultures where Spanish academics spoke about cultural relations between Spain and Egypt.

Mr James Bullock emphasised that the US government invests in cultural programmes in support of their larger diplomatic efforts. But these government programmes are rarely the major component of international cultural exchange. Rather, according to Bullock, it is businessmen, missionaries, researchers and even armies who are the initial agents of international educational and cultural exchange.

Mr Bullock then traced the history of cultural exchange programmes from 1953 when the United States Information Agency (USIA) was created and became responsible for government cultural programmes, until 1999 when the USIA was folded into the Department of State. American cultural centres no longer exists though since 11 September 2001 there seems to be a growing realisation across the US of the need to reinvest in public diplomacy.

M Jean-Philippe Tachdjian of the Canadian Embassy was forthright in explaining the primary role of a cultural attaché as promoting his country's culture in the country of accreditation. Countries with long histories, he went on to say, or those with a language not found in other states (like Italy, Russia, Sweden) have a clear understanding of who they are, and they know how to present their culture to others.

Canada has a relatively short history, speaks the two most internationally widespread languages and has two distinct cultures: the French-speaking Quebecois culture and the culture of the English-speaking majority. In addition, 75 different languages (of immigrants) are spoken in Canada. Canada, in Tachdjian's words, "is a mosaic of cultures, one where each little piece is a distinct but vital part of a larger whole", and each piece must be presented to give audiences a representative view of modern Canadian society.