2024-07-12 08:48:16
Under the enlightened leadership of the two Heads of State, His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God glorify Him, and President Macky Sall, “our two nations continue to write this very special and precious history,” said Mr. Bensaid in his speech at the official opening ceremony of the 12th edition of the National Festival of Arts and Cultures (FESNAC), of which Morocco is the guest of honor this year.
In this sense, he recalled that His Majesty the King, who grants Senegal a unique place, delivered the speech of the 41st anniversary of the Green March, in 2016 from the capital Dakar, specifying that this brother country has experienced eight official visits from the Sovereign, a strong sign of this common history.
“This Moroccan-Senegalese relationship draws on our heritage and our mutual singularities,” he noted, highlighting the role of culture, in its different dimensions, heritage, history and identity, in strengthening the special ties between the two brother countries.
In this regard, he explained that “in a tormented world, increasingly agitated by identity neuroses, Senegal and Morocco offer this rare example of societies living pluralism in serenity; nations offering models of harmonious cohabitation, societies attentive both to openness to others and to the valorization of their own personality.”
In this context, the minister added that culture plays a decisive role “in promoting, nourishing, making known to the world our arts and our artists, our ancient heritage and our present creations, we consolidate our presence in the world, through our cultural sovereignty”.
On the other hand, Mr. Bensaid affirmed that Senegal and Morocco, accompanied by their friends and neighbors, now have the vocation to open the way to a community of Afro-Atlantic cooperation and emergence, rooted and open, dynamic and true to itself.
Dwelling on the role of African youth, Mr. Bensaid noted that this youth is dynamic, increasingly educated, increasingly open. Above all, it is aware of its value, its dignity, its importance, noting that this dignity, it draws it, and it will draw it more and more in the future, in its culture, in its heritage and in its creations.
“Our continent is among the richest culturally: hundreds of languages, epics, living arts, unfortunately still neglected or neglected,” he said, indicating that the cultural and creative industries, the future of the global economy, should find their natural springboard in Africa.
Affirming that Africa has all the assets to welcome this next industrial revolution, Mr. Bensaid called on young people to bring together artistic creation, economic dynamism and social solidarity.
The opening ceremony of this cultural event, which began with the performance of the national anthems of Morocco and Senegal, was chaired by the Head of State, Macky Sall, in the presence of the Senegalese Minister of Culture and Historical Heritage of Senegal, Aliou Sow, members of the Senegalese government, representatives of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to Dakar, including the Ambassador of HM the King, Hassan Naciri, and members of the Moroccan delegation accompanying Mr. Bensaid.
Also taking part were First Lady Marième Faye Sall, the Prime Minister of Senegal, Amadou Ba and the Gambian Minister of Culture, Hamat Ba as well as other civil and military figures.
The official opening of this 12th festival of arts and culture, placed under the general theme “Macky, arts and heritage” and which will continue until January 12, was preceded by the start of the activities of the FESNAC village with the cutting of the ribbon by the Ministers of Culture and Historical Heritage of Senegal, Aliou Sow and his Moroccan counterpart, Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid, as well as by the Director General of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), Salem Ibn Mohamed Al Malik.
Several cultural actors from the 14 regions of Senegal, or forty artistic participants per region, as well as groups from Morocco, hosted the opening ceremony organized at the Massène Sène stadium in Fatick.
The Fesnac, established since 1996, was a strong recommendation of the conference on cultural convergences within the Senegalese nation held in 1994 in Kaolack, at the initiative of the President of the Republic, Abdou Diouf (1981-2000). The first national festival of arts and culture was organized for the first time in Thiès in 1997. It was then held in the regions of Dakar (1999), Ziguinchor (2001 and 2003), Tambacounda (2005), Saint-Louis (2007 and 2012), Louga (2017) and Kolda (2018).
2024-07-12 08:48:16