The handover ceremony for the term presidency of the Global Public Diplomacy Network (GPDNet), for which Yunus Emre Institute has been acting as the term president since 2016, has been held in Istanbul.

The ceremony hosted by the Institute was conducted on May 4, 2019 with the participation of the member countries.

With the signing ceremony between Institute President Prof. Dr. Şeref Ateş and Katara Foundation Director General Dr. Halid bin İbrahim El Sulaiti, the term presidency of the GPDNet was transferred to Katara Cultural Village Foundation starting from June 2019.

Delivering a keynote speech during the ceremony, Prof. Dr. Ateş stated that they had transferred the GPDNet term presidency after three years and both Turkey and Yunus Emre Institute will continued to lend support to the Katara Foundation and Director General Dr. Halid in this challenging task.

In his speech, Katara Foundation Director General Dr. Halid expressed his thanks for the support given by all GPDNet members to Qatar as a term president. Noting that they attach great importance to global stability and peace among nations, Dr. Halid stressed that culture is a positive power and the world need greater solidarity and fraternity.

A replica of the Egyptian–Hittite peace treaty, which is considered as the first written treaty in the world history as well as the oldest treaty based on the principle of equality, was given to the Katara Foundation for a period of three years as the symbol of the term presidency of the GPDNet.

During the handover ceremony, the Kaftan of Suleiman the Magnificent, designed specially by Turkish art historian Prof. Dr. Nurhan Atasoy and her team, was presented by Institute President Prof. Dr. Şeref Ateş to Katara Foundation Director General Dr. Halid bin İbrahim El Sulaiti.

Ideal World in the 21st Century

The celebrations were followed by a GPDNet panel discussion entitled "Public Diplomacy and Intercultural Interaction in the 21st Century." In their speeches, Prof. Dr. İlber Ortaylı and Prof. Teahwan Kim drew attention to the importance of intercultural dialogue for an ideal world in the 21st century.

Moderated by Dr. Melih Barut and attended by Prof. Teahwan Kim, Dr. Bora Bayraktar, Osman Serim and Chelsea Chen, the panel discussion focused on the richness and diversity of culture to be left to future generations.

At the end of the program, the attendants posed for a GPDNet souvenir photo.

Global Public Diplomacy Network (GPDNet)

The Global Public Diplomacy Network (GPDNet) was established in 2014 in Seoul, the capital of South Korea by the public and cultural diplomacy institutions of nine countries including Yunus Emre Institute. The number of member countries rose to 14 with the participation of Hungary, Qatar, Lithuania, Mozambique and Mexico.

The GPDNet has been established with a view to ensuring exchange of theoretical and practical knowledge among cultural and public diplomacy institutes from various countries and preparing bilateral and multilateral projects. Yunus Emre Institute has acted the term presidency between 2016 and 2019. The Katara Foundation will serve as the term president between 2019 and 2022.