TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia will participate at the Janadriyah Festival, the largest annual arts and culture festival in the Middle East. King Salman bin Abdulaziz appointed Indonesia as a guest of honor at the festival that will begin on December 20.

“As a guest of honor, Indonesia will present the best in the Janadriyah Festival which lasts for 21 days. Indonesia will showcase various performances of traditional culture and Indonesian films on the festival art stage,” said Alwi Shihab, Special Envoy of the President of the Republic of Indonesia for the Middle East and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OKI).

The Indonesian Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in its statement explained, the Janadriyah Festival will be held in Janadriyah Village, Riyadh. This festival brings together the wealth of the cultural heritage of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the past, as well as current achievements and progress.

In the Festival, the cultural pavilions of all provinces in Saudi Arabia will be displayed as well as the achievements of various government agencies. Saudi Arabia also invites friendly countries to participate in exhibitions, especially countries that are considered to have high culture.

"For the Indonesian government, participating as a guest of honor is a matter of pride, considering this is an opportunity awaited by many countries. The appointment as a guest of honor also shows the bilateral relations between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia in very good condition,” said the Indonesian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Agus Maftuh Abegebriel.

Indonesia’s participation in the Janadriyah Festival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, carries the theme of “unity in diversity to strengthen moderation and world peace”. This theme is used because Indonesia is a very diverse country with more than 16,000 islands, a population of more than 260 million people, and accommodates more than 300 ethnic groups of different cultures and hundreds of regional languages.