Greater Amman Municipality to organize conference in collaboration with Spanish Agency for International Cooperation

This partnership was officially commemorated at a ceremonial; event held on Tuesday November 6th 2007 at the Municipality Headquarters where by both Mayor of Aman H.E. Mr. Omar Maani and the Spanish Ambassador in Amman H.E. Manuel Lorenzo solidified their joint collaboration through the signing of an agreement.

Held at the beginning of 2008, this conference is designed to provide a space in which both cultural and social issues affecting Amman are brought to the forefront. This goal is to be achieved through the conference's agenda, designed to lend itself to dialogue and the sharing of knowledge and experiences in the fields of municipal management and culture.

The event will target Municipal cultural managers and other key officials working within both the Greater Aman Municipality and international cultural key bodies located in the regions of MENA, Africa, Europe and North America. Its agenda will include seminars and group sessions that will serve to examine and highlight the best practices and strategies that are being used to successfully manage culture at the municipal level.

Commenting on the partnership made, Mayor of Amman H.E. Mr. Omar Maani said, "We are proud to be working with the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation as both entities share the common goal for creating a progressive cultural environment in Amman. Our main objectives through this event are to enhance our citizens' knowledge of Municipal Strategies for culture and arts and to highlight the important role that culture and art play in the social development of any city. We hope that this event will bring us closer to our goal for investing more in cultural activity and We also hope that its proceedings will arm us further with the tools we need to empower individuals and communities working within this field. We ultimately hope that the outcome of this event will be the creation of a city centre, which exemplifies the richness of Amman's cultural diversity as our demographic make up does contain the minds and talents needed for us to achieve this goal "

From his end the Ambassador of Span in Amman, H.E. Mr. Manuel Lorenzo added that this event would serve to highlight the positive outcomes reaped from constructive partnerships formed between both the public and private sector.

Elaborating further on this fact he said, "We at the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation are confident that our collaboration with GAM will serve to foster further cultural partnerships between all cities represented at the conference. We only hope that this event will serve as only the first part of a series of cultural exchanges to be formed between the public and private sectors in the future as we strongly believe that cultural exchange is the way forward for Amman"

It is important to note that this conference was planned as part of GAM's full acknowledgment of cultural development as a core component in the improvement of community affairs. The idea of a "Conference on Municipal Strategies for Culture and Arts Managements came into effect as a direct result of the increase seen the citzens' cultural needs and the current deficiencies of cultural programs seen in Amman.