Cultural exchange and respect of others

Cultural exchange and respect of others

By Dr Khalid Al-Saleh

The “Open Sesame” program is an educational program by the GCC Joint Program Production Institution (GCC JPPI). The first series was produced in 1979, and the second in 1982. The show was a great success, and when the late Mohammad Al-Sanousi was in charge of this institution, he presented the program’s episodes free of charge to Egyptian television for our brothers in Egypt to benefit from them.

But the program was not shown on Egypt TV and was put away. Later Sanousi met the TV official there and asked her why the program was not shown? Sanousi said he was astonished when he heard her answer: “Do you want the Egyptian public to say that you produce better series than us?”

This story reminds me of an English official during the 1980s, who was still thinking that he is living in Great Britain. So he went to Tokyo to improve the balance of trade. This official returned from Tokyo loaded with several Japanese demands that he was forced to meet, including broadcasting sumo wrestling weekly on British TV!

So, the message of Sanousi is clear to all Gulf countries, as many of our brothers in Egypt do not know about