RIYADH — Minister of Culture Prince Badr Bin Abdullah Bin Farhan opened his personal account on Weibo, one of China’s largest social media platforms. He has thus become the first Arab minister of culture joining China's most popular micro-blogging service, akin to America's Twitter, with over 445 million monthly active users.

The account holders of Sina Weibo, launched by Sina Corporation, includes big politicians from around the world such as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Moody and British Prime Minister Theresa May. The minister’s account opens a window of contact with users of digital platforms in China, the most populous country in the world with more than 1.38 billion people. Prince Badr aims to promote communications and interaction in the cultural and knowledge domains between Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries with China, its people and culture.

It is noteworthy that strengthening the Kingdom’s international standing is one of the goals of the Ministry of Culture’s vision and direction, emanating from the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. — SG