The Ministry of Culture has announced the extension of the Year of Arabic Calligraphy campaign into 2021 due to the current crisis of the coronavirus pandemic.

Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan tweeted the announcement earlier on Sunday.

بسبب الظروف الاستثنائية، وما يشهده العالم من جائحة كورونا، تم تمديد #عام_الخط_العربي_2020 ليشمل عام 2021.
سنعبر الأزمة وسنمضي في تحقيق أحلامنا. https://t.co/sbbvkLKbfC

— بدر بن عبدالله بن فرحان آل سعود (@BadrFAlSaud) April 5, 2020

“Due to the exceptional circumstances, and what the world is witnessing in the coronavirus pandemic, the Year of Arabic Calligraphy 2020 has been extended into 2021. We will overcome this crisis and continue to fulfill our dreams,” the minister tweeted.

The year-long celebration was designed to show the true identity of Saudi Arabia and to be a source of inspiration for artists around the world. In addition to highlighting the importance and historical significance of Arabic calligraphy.

The year of Arabic calligraphy will also play a vital role in passing down the language through generations, the generations that are close to losing their mother language.

Artists were invited to submit ideas and project proposals that highlights Arabic calligraphy, and winners were to be provided partial or full financial media and logistical sponsorship from the ministry.

“The impact of the current circumstances and the Kingdom’s efforts in limiting the spread of the coronavirus necessitated the postponement of many cultural events organized by the Ministry of Culture.” The ministry’s official spokesman, Abdulkareem Al-Hameed, said.

شكراً قيادتنا الحكيمة.
شكراً أبطال الصحة.
شكراً جنود الوطن. #يوم_الصحة_العالمي #كلنا_مسؤول#وزارة_الثقافة pic.twitter.com/vwMkUlmFc0

— وزارة الثقافة (@MOCSaudi) April 7, 2020

Let us all look at this extension as an opportunity for us all who are interested to join, to have the time to come up with different artistic ideas to take part and win not as an unfortunate news.

Visit the Ministry’s website for more information.

The long-awaited global event Expo 2020 Dubai was set to kick start six months from now, but due to the current unfortunate events, organizers of the event are currently looking into postponing the event till next year.

While everyone involved in #Expo2020 Dubai remains firmly committed, many countries have been significantly impacted by COVID-19 and they have expressed a need to postpone Expo’s opening by one year, to enable them to overcome this challenge. pic.twitter.com/8xgk5D0UJl

— expo2020dubai (@expo2020dubai) March 30, 2020

In a conference call that brought together members of the event’s steering committee, which comprises local government officials and foreign country representatives, all agreed that a delay is indeed needed and that the Paris-based based Bureau International des Expositions, or BIE, should study this option. The BIE awards the global event and its member states will have the final say regarding the matter.

We support the proposal to explore a one-year postponement at today’s Steering Committee meeting. We will follow due processes with Expo’s governing body, @BIEParis, on making the decision to delay, which requires a two-thirds majority vote from the BIE General Assembly. pic.twitter.com/76Lz3CcbkD

— expo2020dubai (@expo2020dubai) March 30, 2020

“The World’s Greatest Show” was expected to witness the arrival of around 11 million overseas visitors who were eager to come and enjoy the event’s unique medley culture, business, trade, and technology featuring pavilions from 192 countries.

King Salman will chair today’s virtual summit which will bring together leaders of the most powerful countries, the summit organized by Saudi Arabia’s G20 will tackle the accelerating coronavirus crisis.

King Salman leads the #G20 leaders into #COVID19 discussions with the aim to combat the pandemic and ensure global economic stability, for all.#G20VirtualSummit

— G20 Saudi Arabia (@g20org) March 24, 2020

The virtual summit will see the participation of the G20 group, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Jordan, Spain, Switzerland, and Singapore’s heads of state will also take part, this summit is one of the long-anticipated events and has gone virtual in light of the coronavirus outbreak.

The World Health Organization, the UN, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank will all take part as well as other development organizations.

King Salman will open the two-hour digital forum in Riyadh, and then the world’s great capitals will take turn in discussions, in an attempt to face the virus that imposes a global challenge and is a threat to the health and well-being of all nationals.

“Saudi Arabia has a real opportunity to rise to the occasion and reassure global energy and financial markets when the world faces serious economic uncertainty.” Michael Pompeo, the US secretary of state, said on Wednesday.

The summit is the first of its kind to grant global leaders the opportunity to discuss and collaborate on the enormous challenges imposed by COVID-19. Hopefully, the G20 virtual summit will set a policy among those leaders, in addition to a collective response and concerted action.