Oru Leonard
The Director General, National Council for Arts and Culture, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, has said that the INAC Expo 2019 will showcase a lot of new activities and set another milestone in cultural diplomacy as NCAC hosts 36 Diplomats.
Otunba Runsewe said this at the NCAC pre-INAC dinner held at Abuja on Friday, July 27, 2019. He noted that the dinner has become an annual prelude to kick starting this year’s INAC in earnest, making it a most memorable one especially for foreign nationals.
With the gathering of countries like South Africa, Iran, Cameroun, Spain, China, Sudan, Venezuela, USA and many more, from every continent in the world at the pre-INAC dinner, the stage was set for another cultural watershed as the National Council for Arts and Culture played host to more than 36 Ambassadors, High Commissioners and Representatives of countries drawn from around the world to a pre-International Arts and Crafts Expo dinner in Abuja.
He said that it was a deliberate attempt by NCAC to rewrite the culture narratives of Nigeria as it prepares for a groundbreaking 2019 Expo.
Runsewe explained that the essence of the dinner is to provide a platform for Diplomats to interact and unwind in an informal atmosphere in a bid to further cement the cordial relationship already existing between them and the host country, Nigeria.
According to him, “the 3rd edition of INAC will dedicate an entire day to any country interested in entertaining the envoys, noting that last year witnessed phenomenal entertainment from countries like China, India and Bangladesh.”
After dinner, Otunba Runsewe presented souvenirs to the Envoys just as he revealed that plans are also underway to ensure this year’s Cultural Diplomacy Day for Peace slated for November 24th is marked to establish a cultural link amongst nations with the aim of ensuring a common network of cultural identities.
Addressing the media after the dinner, Otunba Segun Runsewe, thanked the various Ambassadors and High Commissioners for gracing the occasion. He noted that media has played a great role in the success of NCAC’s programmes and said that there was an improvement from the 22 countries that participated in the 2018 edition.
The dinner featured delectable Nigerian cuisine, sensational cultural presentation, group photo, exhibition of artistic masterpieces by contemporary Nigerian artists, a display of vintage bronze casts and other historic artifacts, courtesy NCAC.
