ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Prime Minister’s advisor on National History and Literary Heritage (NH&LH) Irfan Siddiqui and the Tunisian ambassador in Pakistan Adel Elarbi on Monday agreed to boost Pak-Tunisia bilateral ties through enhancing cooperation in the fields of literature, art, culture and archaeology.
“Cooperation between Pakistan and Tunisia on literary and cultural fronts will foster the friendly relations between the two Countries,” Irfan Siddiqui said in a meeting with the Tunisian ambassador at the NH&LH Division in Islamabad.
Irfan Siddiqui acknowledged the interest shown by the Tunisian ambassador for initiating joint ventures in the fields of literature, arts and culture.
The advisor said that a Tunisian stall at the annual National Book Fair of National Book Foundation (NBF), to be held in early April 2018, would be welcomed. He said the display of Tunisian literature in the book fair would set a positive trend and help understand each other’s culture.
The prime minister’s advisor while acknowledging the efforts of Tunisian ambassador for establishing “Ibn-i-Khaldun Corner” at NBF said “Pakistan and Tunisia are enjoying good friendly relations; however, there is need to further boost these through enhancing collaboration in the fields of literature, arts and culture.”
Irfan Siddiqui said his division had earlier arranged an international calligraphy exhibition with the cooperation of Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA), Turkey which has received over whelming response.
Following the same spirit, he said, “We aspire to have collaboration with Tunisia to hold a joint calligraphy exhibition in Islamabad.”
The Tunisian ambassador said his Country wanted to have joint ventures with Pakistan in various fields of fine arts. He expressed his interest in establishing “Allama Iqbal Corner” in one of the prominent education institutions of Tunisia.
Adel Elarbi also offered to arrange exchange visits of literary persons of Pakistan and Tunisia to help them understand each other’s culture.
Later, the ambassador along with his wife visited National Library of Pakistan and Islamabad Museum. They expressed keen interest in the artifacts and books there.
