It was a harvest of commendation for the Direction General of National Council for Arts and Culture by members of the Diplomatic corps as the council hosted the 2022 edition of the Pre INAC dinner at Sheraton hotels and Towers in Abuja by the weekend.
The dinner which was used to sensitise members of the Diplomatic corps on arrangements for the 2022 INAC was attended by over 37 countries
The Director General, National Council for Arts and Culture, Otunba Segun Runsewe stated that this year edition of INAC will be special because apart from physical exhibitions, each participating country will have the opportunity of utilizing the robust media platforms during the INAC Expo to reach out to the world adding that countries who are desirous of having their special day featured at the Expo in a 5 minutes documentriy on their cultural manifestations would also be given opportunity to do so.
Runsewe expressed happiness at the robust and mutually rewarding relationship between the Diplomatic Community, National Council for Arts and Culture and the federal government of Nigeria.
He remarked that the Pre- INAC dinner which evolved in 2018 is a platform for engaging with members of the Diplomatic Community in the build up to the International Arts and Crafts (INAC) Expo, one of Council’s flagship programmes and also provides the opportunity for members of the Diplomatic Community to interact not only among themselves but with the management of NCAC to make inputs that would further enrich the content of the Expo.
Runsewe, who doubles as the President of the World Crafts Council ( African Region) mentained that as a programme designed to provide a platform for key global players in the Arts, Culture and Tourism sector to exhibit and network their unique cultural manifestations, the NCAC considers the inputs of members of the Diplomatic Community valuable in making the Expo all- encompassing.
The DG enjoined all foreign missions in Nigeria to take advantage of the window offered by the exposition to showcase their cultural peculiarities and strengths of their respective countries.
In his response, the Dean of the Diplomatic Community in Nigeria, His Excellency, Salaheddine Ibrahima expressed delight for the robust bilateral cooperation that exists between Nigeria and the Foreign Missions which is sustained by the National Council for Arts and Culture.
The Dean particularly thanked Otunba Runsewe for the platform he has sustained since the launch of the Global Diplomacy for Peace which has made foreign missions work together using culture to engender sustainable peace, social harmony, cooperation and international understanding.
He therefore called on all foreign missions in Nigeria to take advantage of the platform offered by NCAC to network their various cultural strengths to the world.
The occasion featured display of traditional dances by the Performing Arts department of the Council as good-will messages were given by some members of the Diplomatic Community.
