President Saleh chairs Sana’a committee meeting

SANA’A, Dec 03 (Saba) – President Ali Abdullah Saleh chaired on Wednesday a meeting of the National Committee of the Sana’a, the 2004 Arab Cultural Capital The meeting, also attended by Vice President Abdu-Rabu Mansour Hadi reviewed arrangements for marking Sana’a as the 2004 Arab Cultural Capital. President Saleh reviewed a plan for setting up “a cultural town” to host a variety of cultural activities, building cinemas, theatres, art galleries, accomplishing the new halls of the National Museum, repainting Old Sana’a houses, paving the entrance of Kawkaban city, rehabilitating the Old Souq of Kawkaban, arranging for a variety of artistic festivals and holding a number of conferences. Some of the conferences which would be held in tandem with the major cultural event are the democracy, human rights, civilizations dialogue and Arab architects conferences. A number of forums including the Sana’a Arab Forum for Engraving, History and Heritage Forum, Yemeni-German Novel Forum are on the plan. Symposiums will highlight the contribution of Yemen to the Arab culture, the Yemeni plastic arts, and the life of Imam Al-Shawkani. Meanwhile, expositions will display the status quo of the Yemeni press, manuscripts, arts, handicrafts and tourist sites. German, French and Italian music bands will be in charge of some concerts. The meeting approved the plan and chose a certain logo for Sana’a, the 2004 Arab Cultural Capital. President Saleh stressed the imperative of proper arrangement for the event to make it “reflect sufficiently how rich in all aspects of life the deeply-rooted Yemeni civilization is. AA/KM