PARIS — The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia celebrated Saturday the World Arabic Language Day 2021 with a virtual ceremony held at the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in the French capital, Paris.

The opening speech was attended by Saudi Arabia's Permanent Representative to UNESCO Princess Haifa Bint Abdulaziz Bin Mohammed Bin Ayyaf Al Muqrin, along with the Assistant Director-General for the Social and Human Sciences Sector at UNESCO Gabriela Ramos and the Director-General of Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Charitable Foundation Saleh Al-Khulaifi.

In her speech at the outset of the ceremony, Princess Haifa highlighted the efforts being made by the Kingdom regarding Arabic language locally, regionally and internationally.

She enumerated pioneering Saudi projects in this context, such as King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Center for Planning and Language Policies; Arabic blog; interactive computer lexicon; unified Arab index implemented by King Abdulaziz Public Library and foundation of King Salman International Complex for the Arabic Language, which culminates the great efforts of the Kingdom in serving one of the most important living languages of the world. — SPA