This Symposium was held from 21-23 November 2000, under the patronage of King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz, when he was Crown Prince, on the occasion of the selection of Riyadh as the Capital of Arab Culture 2000. The Proceedings contain the papers delivered at the Symposium and the contributions that accompanied the proceedings of each session.

Participants in the activities of the Symposium included a select group of intellectuals, academics and specialists from the Arab World. The Symposium sought to develop a more inclusive understanding of the cultural constants and variables of the Arab world, and then to look at future trends and the shape of things to come, organised according to axes that move from present to future and from local to international, through the following themes:

Theme 1. Studies that reflect the reality of culture in the Arab world, and try, through facts and figures, to read that reality in such a way as to give a baseline for reading the future.

Theme 2. A way forward whose features can be seen in the divisions of the present and by looking closely at the most striking aspects of Arab culture, beginning with research into problematic issues and then going on to look at the main aspects of the formation of any culture and civilization.

Theme 3. This theme shows us a different and unfamiliar way of presenting the customary Arab cultural narrative, as we call upon the "other" to be different to us on the one hand, and to meet with us on the other.