The Afro-Asian Writers’ Association (AAWA) has decided to set up a Hoa
Sen (Lotus) Award to honour writers who have made great contributions to
the development of Afro-Asian literature.
The
establishment of the award was one of the focuses at the first meeting
of the AAWA Standing Committee, said the association’s Secretary General
Mohamed Salmawy at a press conference in Hanoi on August 29.
At the August 27-28 meeting, representatives from more than 50 member
states debated the expansion of AAWA members and the publication of the
“Lotus” magazine in English, French and Arabic languages.
The Committee issued a Hanoi Declaration expressing support for Asian
and African countries’ struggles for national independence and freedom,
and condemnation against the use of force, terrorism, religious
conflicts and factionalism.
The meeting re-elected
writer Mohamed Salmawy, President of the Egyptian Writers’ Association
(EWA), as the AAWA Secretary General. Writer Nguyen Quang Thieu, Vice
Presdinet of the Vietnam Writers’ Association (VWA), was elected as the
first Deputy Secretary General of the AAWA.
In the
framework of the meeting, the AAWA held a roundtable conference on the
role of Asian and African writers in the globalisation period and
witnessed the signing of a bilateral cooperation agreement between the
Egyptian and Vietnamese associations.-VNA