The first edition of the International Festival of Youth Popular Arts started on Saturday evening in Asilah, and is set to continue until 14 June with the participation of artistic troupes from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, Indonesia and Senegal, in addition to Morocco.

The opening ceremony of this festival, organised by the Asilah Association for Tourism Development, was marked by performances by the Sahrawi folklore troupe from Laâyoune and the popular arts troupe from Indonesia.

In a statement to MAP on this occasion, the festival director, Abdeljalil Alami Akhrif, indicated that this event aims to promote popular arts and contribute, through art and culture, to the strengthening of relations of friendship and cooperation between peoples.

This festival is intended to be a new appointment in the cultural agenda of the city of Asilah, alongside notably the International Moussem of Asilah, he noted, stressing that in addition to the popular arts shows, the festival will be marked by conferences and round tables on culture and popular arts and their role in the development of tourism.

For his part, the president of the Asilah Association for Tourism Development, Abdelilah Asra, noted that the creation of this festival was dictated by the need to multiply cultural events, which constitute the main tourist attraction of the city of Asilah.

The association places tourism development at the centre of its concerns and works, to achieve this objective, to take advantage of the cultural and artistic vocation of Asilah, he added, calling on all the city's associative actors to redouble their efforts and contribute to cultural and artistic animation.

Two main conferences will be organised on this occasion with the participation of researchers and experts. They will deal with the themes "Popular arts and civilisational identity" and "Popular heritage and tourism development: what relationship?".