BilAraby Annual Gathering, the annual event hosted in Doha, Qatar
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Qatar Foundation's BilAraby initiative participated in the Al Sharq Youth 9th International Conference 2025, marking a further step in expanding its regional engagement and reinforcing its role as a platform for Arabic-language knowledge, creativity, and innovation.
BilAraby’s participation builds on its ongoing partnership with the Al Sharq Forum, and reflects its role as a cultural and intellectual bridge connecting people and ideas within an authentic cultural framework.
The conference took place in Istanbul on 12–13 December 2025 under the theme ‘Tashkil Al Sharq: From Vision to Action’. BilAraby’s participation represented its second regional milestone, following its involvement in the Misk Global Forum in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia last month.
Dr. Said Ismail, Professor of Genomics at Qatar Foundation’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University, and BilAraby spokesperson said: “Our presence at the conference sought to expand the impact of BilAraby and to introduce the initiative to creative Arab youth, whose engagement was strongly evident throughout the event.
The sessions we delivered served as an invitation for young people to contemplate locally driven solutions to the challenges confronting our societies, positioning our presence as a further step toward empowering youth through their language and creative capacities.
BilAraby’s involvement in the conference was structured around two main sessions designed to enrich intellectual dialogue. The first session, titled ‘The Future of the East in Its Roots’, was moderated by Hisham Nourin, Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives and Programs at Qatar Foundation, and featured Dr. Ismail and Mohamad Ali Bahri, Arabic Language Coordinator at Hamad Bin Khalifa University.
The session examined the East through the lens of its civilizational and cultural foundations, framing innovation as a natural continuation of the region’s rich historical legacy. The discussion explored the Arabic language as a medium for scientific knowledge, literature, and the arts, as expressions of societal vitality, and referenced the “House of Wisdom” as an enduring symbol of cultural exchange.
It also emphasized the role of universities, research centers, and institutions such as Qatar Foundation as modern embodiments of this intellectual heritage. The session reinforced how integrating culture and innovation serves as a guiding compass for the East to reclaim its historical role and strengthen its contribution to global creativity through a synthesis of authenticity and modernity.
The second session brought together the BilAraby team, speakers, and strategic partners in a roundtable under the theme ‘The East Between Globalization and Cultural Particularity’, which centered on a pivotal question: can the East redefine itself while preserving its identity? The session witnessed active participation and drew a large audience of youth from across the Arab world.
The discussion explored the challenges posed by globalization and the complexities of identity, while highlighting strategies for developing creative and developmental models firmly rooted in local contexts rather than relying on imported frameworks. Key themes included locally anchored innovation, the Arabic language as a means of social empowerment in the digital economy, identity as a dynamic force in global competitiveness, and popular culture as a catalyst for renewal. The session emphasized that the East can spearhead a new wave of creativity by drawing on its indigenous ideas, and that youth are uniquely positioned to bridge the gap between local concepts and their global impact through initiatives such as BilAraby.
The BilAraby initiative welcomes speaker nominations, registrations, and partnership applications for the BilAraby Gathering 2026 via its official website: https://bilaraby.qa/en.
