Bali, Indonesia, Oct.13, 2016 (Antara) -- World Culture Forum was officially opened today by the fifth President of Indonesia, Megawati Soekarnoputri. In her speech, she conveyed how the tradition and culture can shape the national identity."Through this grand cultural event, i'd like to declare that the tradition and culture are the things that can help us shape the national identity, particularly amid the modernization and globalization. The culture will play its fundamental role in bringing the clarity, the peace, solidarity, and social justice which eventually will make this world a better place to live," Megawati stated.

Director General of UNESCO Irina Bokova also took part in the opening ceremony through the video conference, saying that WCF served as a reflection for the participating nations in determining the new direction and strategy of sustainable national development. "In recent decades, the role of culture ironically had been denied. Now, it all has changed. In near future, UNESCO will launch a global report on the culture and sustainable regional development in order to enable the culture to be incorporated into the regional development policy and regulations," she revealed.

Agreed with Bokova's outlook on the culture's role towards the national development, the Minister of Education and Culture, Indonesia, Muhadjir Effendy, stated that this world-level meeting aimed to discuss and position the culture as the leading notion in the development. "We have to mainstream the culture in the development by positioning it as the main idea of the entire development process," added the Minister.

The WCF 2016 opening marked with the gong striking by Megawati Soekarnoputri which was witnessed by Minister Muhadjir Effendy, Minister of Culture and Islam Guidance of Iran Ali Jannati, Minister of Home Affairs and Rural Development of Tuvalu Namoliki Sualiki Neemia, Director General of Culture of Ministry of Culture Hilmar Farid, and UNESCO Director for Jakarta, Shahbaz Khan.



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