Art in Morocco’s Embassy

Morocco’s Embassy and the man in charge, Ambassador Rachad Bouhlal, have by now gained the reputation of operating an “open house” and practicing active public diplomacy. A bridge between the Maghreb Kingdom and Germany is being built with art through regular exhibits.

On March 19, Ambassador Bouhlal opened the exhibit, “Points of View – an artistic Journey in Morocco,” by the artist group founded in 2002, “E6 – Emailkunst Rügen.” Large format enamel steel plates are the specialty of Walter G. Goes, Takwe Kaenders, Bernard Misgajski, Hans Reiche, Armgard and Manfred Stenzel, a technique only rarely used today.
In the spring of 2008, the artists visited Marrakech, Essaouira and a number of the places on the way between the two cities during a three-week stay in Morocco. They assimilated the impressions and experiences they had into their email pictures, sculptures and pencil and color sketches. For most of the group, the trip was the first contact with what was to them until then a foreign world. Their works show the changing view while the artists drifted on their journey through Morocco and took in the great variety of impressions.

The exhibit is already being followed by another from April 29 to May 21, 2009, “Blue Hours – Photograph by Markus Epha.” The focus of the pictures is the northern region of the Kingdom of Morocco, particularly Tangier. The artist, born in Munich in 1965 and who has lived in Berlin the last 15 years, captures the change in the region between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, between urban areas and the Rif Mountains, between tradition and foreign influences.

Exhibit opening times:
Monday to Friday, 10 am to 4pm;
Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco,
Niederwallstraße 39,
10117 Berlin
(U-Bahn station Hausvogteiplatz)

Photos:
1) Walter G. Goes (at the lectern) and the artist group “E6 – Emailkunst Rügen”

2) from left to right. Walter G. Goes, artist group “E6 – Emailkunst Rügen”; H. E. Rachad Bouhlal, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco and his wife, Mme. Fatiha Bouhlal

Photos: Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco

Moncef Ben Abdallah new Doyen of the Arab Ambassadors in Germany

Moncef Ben Abdallah, the new Doyen presiding over the Arab ambassadors in Berlin, is an experienced economics expert from the Republic of Tunisia. The 62-year-old mathematician and engineer, born in Tunis, began his career in 1972, after graduating from Ecole Centrale in Paris, as chief engineer with the Société Tunisienne de l’Electricité et du Gaz (STEG). From 1992 to 1996, he presided over STEG as its president. Until then (and afterwards, as well, until his appointment as ambassador to Germany), Mr. Ben Abdallah bore responsibility in a number of leading positions in Tunisian business and government economics, particularly in that of the energy industry that included Chief of Cabinet for the Minister of National Economics; Director of ETAP, the Tunisian state-owned oil company; Director of Industry in the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Energy; President of the Industry Promotion Agency (API); consultant for economic matters to the office of the Prime Minister; President of the Energy Control Agency (AME) and President of the cement company, Enfidha. After his appointment in 1996 to Undersecretary for the Minister of Economic Development, responsible for state interests, Mr. Ben Abdallah was called to be Minister of Industry in 1997 and in 2002 Minister of Industry and Energy. On December 10, 2003, he presented his credentials as ambassador of the Republic of Tunisia to Germany Federal President Johannes Rau. Ambassador Ben Abdallah is married and has three children. He speaks Arabic, French and English.