Today, Tuesday, the Economic and Social Council recommended creating a framework that unites cultural bodies under the umbrella of a general union.

This came in a session held by the Council today within the axis of community development, which comes as a continuation of the discussion of the State of the Country Report 2021 before its launch, in the presence of the Minister of Culture Haifa Al-Najjar, the Secretary-General of the Ministry, Hazza Al-Barari, and a group of experts and specialists from the public and private sectors.

During the session, Al-Najjar drew attention to the importance of preparing the country’s state report as an independent and transparent critical review tool, stressing the ministry’s readiness to carefully review the report and follow up on its recommendations to conduct a self-review of the cultural sector.

She pointed to the importance of linking culture to productivity and its overlap with multiple sectors, such as the economy, education and the environment, to enhance the role of the productive society and not be limited to the development sector, noting the importance of concerted efforts so that the culture sector goes beyond its traditional and usual role to enhance intellectual and cultural diversity of the Jordanian person.

In turn, the Secretary-General of the Council, Dr. Mitri Madanat, said that cultural development is a gateway to political and social reform because of its important role in building a generation capable of creativity and innovation.

He added that with all the measures and reforms undertaken by the Ministry of Culture during the previous period, there are many obstacles facing the cultural sector, represented by weak cultural production, limited support and marketing, in addition to the lack of developed cultural industries. He also pointed out the importance of a comprehensive national strategy aimed at promoting the cultural sector with the participation of all parties.

The participants recommended the necessity of renewing the partnership with the private sector to play its role towards culture from the perspective of social responsibility to achieve a real community partnership, pointing out the importance of presenting Jordan in an appropriate manner abroad through a competing Jordanian cultural product.

They stressed the importance of establishing a higher council for culture, creating a unified framework for cultural institutions, reducing the culture directorates of the ministry in the governorates, and re-evaluating some festivals that are held annually, with the need for basic digital indicators to understand the overall environment for the reality of culture in society and assess its condition, in addition to studying the future culture of society. .

It is noteworthy that the Council will hold in the coming weeks a series of discussion sessions, with the participation of a group of opinion and experts, to address the axes of the report on the state of the country and the sectors mentioned in it for this year, namely: the macro economy, economic sectors, infrastructure sectors, human resources, and community development (1). and community development (2), and the axis of political development and the development of the public sector.