Nayrouz Talaat

Egypt's city of Luxor will host the third Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF) from 16 to 24 March in a bid from governmental bodies to exploit culture in boosting relations with African countries, said the Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF) chairman.

"The festival will be a great opportunity to develop relations in the cinema industry between Egypt and Africa," said Sayed Fouad, the chairman of LAFF.

"We are looking forward to exchanging expertise between both sides," Fouad said, adding that it will be a chance to promote Egyptian movies in the African market.

For his part, the Arab Artists Syndicate head, Mousad Fouda said that Senegal will be the guest of honour this year.

For the first time, the Ministries of Culture, Trade and Industry, Tourism, Sports, Investments, and Foreign Affairs will be the festival's sponsor in an attempt to regain international confidence in the country's stability.

The cultural gala will involve 150 participants, including men of letter, officials, actors, movie makers and African directors coming from 41 African and nine European countries, who will take part in the festival activities, said Minister of Trade and Industry Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour.

Abdel Nour told organizers of the event during his meeting with them that culture is considered a soft power that will be a catalyst to pass the current political and economic transitional period.

The first festival took place in February 2012. Luxor was selected to de-centralise cultural or artistic events, which are always organised in Cairo and Alexandria.