There is a growing awareness that languages play a vital role in development, in ensuring cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue, but also in strengthening cooperation, building inclusive knowledge societies, preservingculturalheritage and providing quality education for all.
She reiterated that US and UNESCO values and interests are shared, in particular as concerns the Organization's core priorities, such as UNESCO's global outreach in education, advancing gender equality, bolstering freedom of expression and media pluralism, and preservingculturalheritage.
More broadly, explains festival director Salem Al Mazrouei, it is also a way of preserving aspects of Bedouin culturalheritage that might otherwise be lost in a rapidly modernizing country.