The interview with Almuaini Mohamedkamil, the Founder & Chairman of International Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (UAE) (AMK)
The interviewers were Bukin Stanislav (BS) and Marsanov Stanislav (MS).
MS: Thank you very much for agreeing to this interview. We really appreciate you and your warm attitude towards our country.
AMK: Thank you for inviting me to the interview. I`m glad to answer your questions.
BS: Dear Mohamedkamil, could you tell us in general what you mean by international cultural diplomacy?
AMK: We actually know what cultural diplomacy means for all of us.. The cultural diplomacy is exchange about the idea, about the value, about culture, about anything which is bringing the people together and to understand each other. This is in the general. We in the International Institute for Cultural Diplomacy in the United Arab Emirates This became from all of these by three worlds, which is called beautification, attraction and bridging. Through the beautification, beautification thinking, beautification ideas, any beautiful you are going to promote it, you build here, you attract the others for what you have. And when you attract, you will build the bridge between us and others, bridge between the heart and mind.
BS: Yeah, great, great, and cultural diplomacy is a good opportunity to build new relationships between the country. In your opinion, what challenges cultural diplomacy faces at the present stage?
AMK: Yes, the cultural diplomacy is going further and further. A lot of countries now they trying to use the cultural diplomacy. They understood that through the culture they can open the door and they can break the walls between them. There’s one example actually, one story between two brothers. They were together and they were very good, but some after that the other one he was jealous and he says no I don’t want to see my brother here because they were, I mean some other people they came between and after that he says for the one person to build a wall between me and my brother. I don’t want to see him and I’m going to for a period of time when I come I would like to not see him just the wall be there he says okay not a problem what the other did he did the bridge between this land and the other land and the other one he don’t know what he doing there and when he came he saw the bridge is there and the other person also his He was happy because he thought that he built a bridge between both of them. And he doesn’t know, but he says to them, why are you building the bridge and there is a wall? And when he saw the brothers coming, he came to him and hugged him after that day. The brothers asked to stay with these builders and work with them, but those people answered them: “We would like to, but we need to build many more bridges.” This is what the cultural diplomacy is to do.
MS: How would you characterize the current stage of global international relations?
AMK: Yes, the global international relations actually sometimes is doing or playing devil’s standard, which is this is affecting the relation between the countries, and this is the misunderstanding of cultural diplomacy here also. But if the people come together and understand each other, and looking for the other, respecting the other, what they have, their values, their religions, their anything. We try to work together and promote our ideas because we live for a new generation. We are all united by concern for the future generation, which should live in peace and harmony.
BS: Dear Mohamedkamil, can you tell us in more detail about the activities of your institute, what projects it implements and what contribution it makes to the development of international cultural diplomacy?
AMK: Yes, we are, you know, this is a private sector which is not that much big because there is no support from any other government or any other organization, non-internally and non-externally. This is due from our efforts and because of the beautification of cultural diplomacy. We have collaboration with Russia, with India, with Central Asia, with the Balkan states, and some other African countries. We organized conferences, forum, symposiums, in the same time we have also some particular courses which is related to cultural diplomacy and also for sustainability, strategic management, risk assessment. All of these that we are promoting among the people to understand how to improve themselves, improve their country and also about the branding nation. How to brand your nation? In the nation, you can also, the person should brand himself also. And also the company, they are going to brand themselves, like Emirates. Airlines, for example, for me. They’re branding themselves by putting some logo for the Emirates in some stadium, in some football play or something. For this reason, it’s very known now the Emirates Airline, when you say the Emirates Airline, you say the Emirates Airline now is the high quality, but just for the locals, it’s similar to BMW or any other thing. This is, we have to use the sport, we have to use music, we have to use any tool which is bringing the people together and you can simply… I want to give an example of Dubai fountains during the New year celebrations., this is always you can see the playing between music, beautiful music and the dancing of water. But during the new year, no, it’s not just the water, it’s beautiful music with beautiful dance of water, light, and fire. This cannot be compiled, but here you can see, and the people from all around the world Regardless of their religion, regardless of their country, of their language, all of them, they are happy, they are together, they are happy. It is something attractive.
MS: The most attractive for you, personally, is sport or maybe dance in Russia?
AMK: Yes, yes, sports actually. Because we are used to watching the Olympic Games. I am particularly interested in chess and football competitions. The Russian national football team was also the best team, but unfortunately it wasn’t there at the last World Cup. But I hope your national team will return to the international stage again, because participation in the World Cup is one of the main factors.
MS: We have hosted two FIFA World Cups in a row, first in Russia, then in Qatar.
AMK: Yes, after the World Cup, people want to return to Russia again. And also dancing, music, various types of art, drawing. All this attracts people, regardless of their education, culture, religion, or nationality. It’s just that people are enjoying life, looking for something beautiful. Everyone has something unique and shares it with others.
BS: Yeah, United Arab Emirates create to enjoy life.
AMK: We have also Abraham Accord which is also combined between Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This is one place they do. This is how two people live in Tel Aviv. Yes, yes. I need all of them respecting each other. Yes, sure. Anyone who practices.
BS: And Mr. Mohammed, how you can characterize the modern state of cultural diplomacy between Russia and United Arab Emirates?
AMK: Yes, actually, every time between United Arab Emirates and Russia, it’s going more and more It started a long time ago, and when our new ambassador came to power, he also made a lot of efforts to bring relations between the two countries to a new level. They’re using the particular day UAE days in Moscow there and bringing the beautiful dancing there also for the football players sometime or so they do also from here from Russia they go to United Arab Emirates there and we know that the very good relation between our President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed and President Putin, the President of the Russian Federation, they have a special relation also together. Also, a lot of people from Russia, they invested in United Arab Emirates. They have houses, they have so on. One of the things, actually one of my friends is Arabian, but he knows Russian very well. When we coming from Moscow to Dubai, when. When we landed, people said, oh, we came back again to our country. And we said, yes, this is our country. When you leave somewhere, this is your country. This is how to understand the people like each other. When you’re coming now, when you’re going from Dubai to Russia, you have three flights daily just on Emirates. I’m not counting the flights to Dubai, Arabia, Etihad, three flights, but all the flights is full. And this is meaning that people, they like to come to Russia, and they love the culture of Russia, and also what the cleanery they have seen, how the treatment from the airport and when you go there, the security that they have there. This is attractive to come here and more and more, shifting from other countries. They used to come to Russia, to Moscow, to Sochi, to St. Petersburg, to Kazan, to here. I mean, most of them, they discover it.
MS: What Russian cities have you visited?
AMK: Yes, so far I visited Moscow, definitely. I went to St. Petersburg, Volgograd, Kazan. This is my first visit in Saransk.
MS: What is the most beautiful, in your opinion?
AMK: Each one has a specialty, actually. We cannot say that this is more beautiful than any other. All of them are beautiful, and all of them are amazing.
BS: And it is our next question. Russia is a multinational country. And is it possible to build an intercultural dialogue between the regions of the Russian Federation, for example, Mordovia, and the United Arab Emirates?
AMK: Definitely, this could be also like trying to, the Mordovian government sent a letter to the UAE, they have to make like twin city between Mordovian city and any city in United Arab Emirates And through that one they can also exchange, exchange the student, exchange the activity of music, of sports, of anything like that. And to come and visit together here and there. And when they come here, definitely they will go to the other city as well. Which is not attracting just the city itself but also the other city. And we have similarity, a lot of similarity between Russia and United Arab Emirates here. And we can learn from each other’s experiences..
MS: And Mr. Mohamed, I think the last question, is cultural diplomacy capable of becoming a bridge between countries in order to intimidate the development of political and economic project projects based on intercultural relations?
AMK: Yes, the power of culture cannot be overestimated. Cultural diplomacy really opens doors. And I didn’t just use words like beautification, cooperation, and bridging, which is called “bab,” it means “door” in Arabic. That is, when you open the doors to culture, then you become a link and begin to understand others, and they understand you. Here you will be the connection and you are open for the economic or the political, you are open for the business, you are open for that. The power of diplomacy and culture lies in the exchange of experience between countries and mutual development. Through culture, you can develop, learn to understand, improve relations between countries, nations, and bring people together. This is what we and our future generations need. After all, we are responsible for the world they will live in. They should live better than us.MS: The right diplomacy is communication based on respect.
AMK: Yes, I agree with you.
BS: Thank you very much for the interview!
AMK: Thank you for the invitation.