Your Excellency, I understand that the Jordan national culture is Jordanian, but this also includes Arab, Islamic and human culture. Could you talk to us a little bit about the Jordanian culture and what is its definition and its richness?
The Jordanian culture is mixed; it is Arabic and Islamic. We have inherited this culture from the inhabitants of ancient Jordan, people who lived here before Islam, before the Muslims came from the Arabic peninsula. We have a very rich culture. Beginning with the Nabataeans, in pre-Roman times, and continuing with the Greeks and the Romans, they all left parts of their culture here, which make an essential part of the culture of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. So, we can call it a multi-cultural society.
In culture there are three important pillars: the intellectual, the cultural and the artistic pillar. How is the Jordanian Ministry of Culture supporting these three pillars in order to increase the richness of culture?
We have many programs to develop our culture. There is an annual ceremony, the Jerash Festival, which celebrates music, theater and poetry. We have a fair in Petra, we have Wadi Rum in the South of Jordan. We have many exhibitions every year. Altogether, we are trying to promote culture in our country's cultural diversity.
Does the Ministry also promote culture internationally?
Of course. We have signed agreements with the United States, Germany, China and India, in order to develop cultural relationship between these countries and our country. | You were a journalist before you became Minister. How did you make the jump from journalism to politics?
I was in politics before I became a journalist. When I was a student, I was the Head of General Union of Jordanian Students for about eight years. I joined many opposition parties at that time. I became a journalist through politics.
As Minister of Culture and Information, what was your most satisfying achievement?
I do not have a big role in this system. We, in the government, work as a team, together. But I try to leave my mark in the culture of Jordan. First of all, I am trying to cancel this Ministry [of Information]. Not to merge it, to cancel it, because we are a democratic country now. We need the journalists to be free, we need all channels of information to be free, now we are trying to make a media free zone, so I think that, in the near future, the Ministry of Information will not be necessary. However, we still need the Ministry of Culture, especially in our country.
What would your final message for our readers?
I would like to invite your readers to read more about Jordan. It is a very nice country, our people are now trying to build democracy, they are committed to peace in this area. We want peace, we want to develop our cultural and economic life. We want your readers to read more about this historical country. |
Ministry of Information and Culture