On behalf of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz, Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister and Commander of the National Guard, yesterday patronized the inaugural ceremony of the twelfth national festival for heritage and culture.

Crown Prince Abdullah was accompanied to the venue in Jenadriyah by HRH Prince Charles of Great Britain, who had arrived yesterday to attend the festival. Prince Charles held meetings in the evening with the Crown Prince and other officials, and, together with Prince Abdullah, attended a dinner party hosted by Prince Badr Bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Commander of the National Guard and Chairman of the Higher Committee for the National Festival of Heritage and Culture. Today Britain's Prince Charles conferred with a number of Saudi businessmen to discuss the distinguished trade relations between the two countries as well as ways of boosting bilateral cooperation. During this meeting, Prince Charles reaffirmed Great Britain's desire to promote more trade exchanges.

The opening ceremony yesterday, and the dinner party last evening, was also attended by Sheikh Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa, Crown Prince and General Commander of the Bahraini Defense Forces; Lt.-General Sheikh Muhammad Bin Zaid Al-Nahayan, Chief of Staff of the UAE Armed Forces; Captain Al-Saady Muammar Al-Gaddafi, who arrived yesterday from Libya; and a number of princes, GCC Ministers of Education, other ministers, senior civil and military officials, national guard guests and diplomats.

In an address at the opening ceremony, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Abdulmohsin Al-Tuwaijri, Advisor at the Court of the Crown Prince and a member of the festival's higher committee, stated that this blessed occasion provided a good opportunity to Saudi thinkers and writers to meet with their counterparts from the Arab and Islamic worlds, and welcomed all the guests and participants, saying: "This festival has become a milestone for the development of culture and thought between the people of our Kingdom and the rest of the world."

Earlier this week, Prince Badr made a statement highlighting the great attention given by King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah to this national festival, which is viewed as a gathering for international thinkers and intellectuals as well as those from the Arab and Islamic worlds. Prince Badr announced that a seminar on 'Islam and the West' is being organized in conjunction with the festival.

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