47 Order of Arts and Letters, Rank of Chevalier * In this brief exposition and in broad outline, it gives me great pleasure to mention the strong relations that link France with the Arab and Islamic world. We all remember the important role that French intellectuals played in the Arab Reform Movement and the Arab Renaissance. I would single out Guillaume Postel who became the first incumbent of the Chair of Arabic Studies * In the evening of 22nd July 2003 the Republic of France awarded me theOrdre des Arts et des Lettreswhich was presented to me by His Excellency Mr Jean-Jacques Aillagon, Minster of Culture and Communication, on behalf of the President of France, Mr Jacques Chirac. The ceremony took place in the Paris Festival Hall and was attended by an official group of senior French offi- cials, scholars, intellectuals, senior officials from the Department of Culure and Communication, the Foreign Office, representa- tives from the Élysée Palace, various parliamentarians and other dignitaries. I delivered a speech in which I thanked the French Government for the honour bestowed on me, which I took both as an invitation to continue the hard work in the service of culture and as a vote of confidence by the world’s intellectual elite. I then reviewed the leading role that France had played in intellectual enlightenment and intercultural communication. I also noted France’s contribution in the fields of culture, translation, literature and in the spread of such concepts as liberty and justice.
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