(By Emily Backus).
A conference to promote
Mediterranean cultural heritage will take place in the heart of
the archeological site of ancient Pompeii on Tuesday and
Wednesday.
The international conference "The Memory of the Future. The
value of communication in the cultural dialogue of the
Mediterranean cities" explores the role of institutions and
communications in valorising Mediterranean cultural heritage.
National and international policy makers are to meet with
high profile members of Mediterranean media on three main
themes: dialogue and culture in the Mediterranean; culture as an
economic value and identity of a city; and communication's role
in cultural information in the Mediterranean.
The conference will view the Mediterranean basin as a hub of
cultural exchange, especially in major cities - Naples among
them - which have successfully assimilated the area's composite
characteristics.
The Mediterranean will be observed as a multi-ethnic sea
that, in addition to seeing periods of conflict, has also lived
with long periods of cultural coexistence, and today
disseminates peaceful cultural exchange through a host of
cultural events, like cinema, music and theatre festivals as
well as exhibitions and photography shows, which provide
reciprocal enrichment through the exchange of experiences,
reflections and memories.
ANSA's Mediterranean network ANSAmed, founded ten years ago
in Naples, on May 5, 1994, has played a significant role in the
exchange of information and cultural communication with
countries on the shores of the Mediterranean with the aim of
contributing a class of new communicators that have a clear
Mediterranean identity.
A number of high-profile guests are expected in the digs of
Pompeii, one of the most visited archeological sites in the
world whose only rival in the Mediterranean basin are the
Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.
Participants include Italian MP Khalid Chaouki, Chairman of
the Cultural Commission of the Parliamentary Union for the
Mediterranean, and Francesca Barracciu, the undersecretary for
tourism and culture for the Italian government.
Other attendees are Riccardo Monti, president of
foreign-trade institute ICE; Luigi Nicolais, president of
National Research Council CNR; and Paul Walton, executive
director of the Anna Lindt Foundation, who will be welcomed by
Campania Governor Stefano Caldoro, who is pushing for the key
boost to Pompeii's upkeep that will come with the Great Pompeii
Project.
Media debate will be fuelled by ANSA Editor-in-Chief Luigi
Contu, whose ANSAMed desk is covering the two-day event, as well
as by Il Mattino Editor Alessandro Barbano and foreign guests of
the calibre of: Laure Sleiman Saab, director of the Lebanon's
news agency NNA; Mohamed Sabreen, editor of Egyptian daily
Al-Ahram; Tunisian journalism school chief Abdelkrim Hizaoui;
and Riyadh El-Hassan, presidente of the Alliance of
Mediterranean News Agencies (AMAN).
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