Saudi-French Talks to Support Cultural Cooperation

Saudi Arabia's Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan
Saudi Arabia's Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan
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Saudi-French Talks to Support Cultural Cooperation

Saudi Arabia's Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan
Saudi Arabia's Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan

Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan, the Saudi Minister of Culture, met the French ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Ludovic Pouille via video call.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed several aspects of cultural cooperation between the two countries and ways to develop them, especially concerning the existing corporations and the future opportunities between the two sides, particularly in AlUla.

They also highlighted ways to enhance international cultural exchange between the two countries.

Meanwhile, the Literature, Publishing, and Translation Commission intends to launch the Arab Translation Observatory initiative by early 2022, to document and coordinate translations in the Arab world, as well as providing a reliable reference and a platform for knowledge and cultural exchange.

The Arab Translation Observatory initiative aims to bridge the knowledge gap between Arabs and the rest of the world by enriching cultural exchange and developing a sustainable competitive system for the translation sector to achieve economic growth for the Kingdom and to strengthen its position as a leading digital reference for certified translation.

The Arab Translation Observatory initiative strives to create an environment in which the efforts of authors, translators, and publishers are integrated, and translation to and from the Arabic language is dynamic.



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.