H.H. Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah and Chairman of the Arabic Language Academy in Sharjah, explained that the Arabic language has many supporters with an opinion and influence, and while they may not have the knowledge they have the desire to advocate and promote it.

He also called for bringing these people as influential voices for decision-making, and urged to increase the number of members of the institutions and assemblies of the Arabic language, according to the Sharjah 24 news website.

This came during a meeting between Sheikh Sultan and the presidents and senior officials of the linguistic and scientific councils and Arabic language centres and the members of the Arabic Language Federation, on Monday, on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the first edition of the ALECSO-Sharjah Award for Language and Lexical Studies (2017) and World Arabic Language Day celebration held at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, in Paris.

Sheikh Sultan met Dr. Saud Hilal Al-Harbi, Director-General of ALECSO, who thanked him for his sponsorship and support for the award, its events and activities that support the Arabic language.

He also exchanged talks with Dr. Hassan El Shafei on a number of issues in the language field and the affairs of the councils, in the presence of the federation members.

During the meeting, they discussed the latest developments of language projects supervised by the union, especially the historic Arabic language lexicon, which has formed a five-year committee to follow up on its implementation in the fastest way.

Dr. Shafei briefed Sheikh Sultan on the preparations of the annual meeting, which will be held in Sharjah for the first time in January, in the presence of all the members of the federation, in addition to the science lecture that will be attended by a large group of professors and Arabic scientists.

The meeting was attended by Abdulla Al Owais, Chairman of the Department of Culture, Mohammed Hassan Khalaf, Director-General of the Sharjah Media Corporation, and Dr. Mohamed Safi Mostaghanmi, Secretary-General of the Arabic Language Academy in Sharjah.