G20 Culture Ministers to Discuss Role of Culture in Economic Growth

Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan. (SPA file photo)
Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan. (SPA file photo)
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G20 Culture Ministers to Discuss Role of Culture in Economic Growth

Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan. (SPA file photo)
Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan. (SPA file photo)

The culture ministers of the G20 countries and leaders of international cultural organizations will meet on Wednesday to discuss the role of culture in supporting the global economy.

Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan will preside over the meeting that will also tackle ways to bolster culture, building bridges of cultural communication and openness, bolstering inspiring dialogue and improving the quality of life of citizens and residents.

This marks the first time that culture ministers will convene on the sidelines of the G20 summit, which will be hosted by Saudi Arabia on November 21 and 22.

The meeting was proposed by Saudi Arabia in its capacity as president of the G20 for 2020 and out of its belief in the importance of culture in social and economic development.

Wednesday’s summit will focus on protecting culture, sustainable development and the role of culture in economic development and international interaction.



Taipei Zoo's Veteran Giant Panda Celebrates 20th Birthday

Panda Yuanyuan enjoys her birthday cake for her 20th birthday at the Taipei Zoo in Taipei, Taiwan, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Panda Yuanyuan enjoys her birthday cake for her 20th birthday at the Taipei Zoo in Taipei, Taiwan, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
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Taipei Zoo's Veteran Giant Panda Celebrates 20th Birthday

Panda Yuanyuan enjoys her birthday cake for her 20th birthday at the Taipei Zoo in Taipei, Taiwan, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Panda Yuanyuan enjoys her birthday cake for her 20th birthday at the Taipei Zoo in Taipei, Taiwan, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

With politics set aside, well-wishers gathered to wish the Taipei zoo’s senior panda a happy 20th birthday.
Visitors crowded around Yuanyuan's enclosure to take photos of her with a birthday cake in the shape of the number 20.
Yuanyuan was born in China and arrived in 2008 with her partner Tuantuan. He died in 2022 at age 18 but not before fathering two female cubs, Yuanzai and Yuanbao, now 11 and 4 respectively and still living at the zoo.
Danielle Shu, a 20-year-old Brazilian student in Taiwan, said she found online clips of the pandas an enjoyable distraction. “And I just find it really funny and cute,” The Associated Press quoted Shu as saying.
Giant pandas are native only to China, and Beijing bestows them as a sign of political amity. Yuanyuan and Tuantuan arrived in Taiwan during a period of relative calm between the sides, which split amid civil war in 1949. China claims the island its own territory, to be annexed by military force if necessary.
Faced with declining habitat and a notoriously low birthrate, giant panda populations have declined to around 1,900 in the mountains of western China, while 600 pandas live in zoos and breeding centers in China and around the world.