How Qatar is redefining cultural diplomacy

Cultural diplomacy is often judged by what can be seen. Governments build centres abroad, fund exchanges, and project identity outward. Visibility matters, of course, but it can create the illusion that influence should only move in one direction.

Qatar’s Years of Culture initiative has taken a different approach, and its growing resonance suggests why that distinction matters.

Rather than exporting a fixed cultural model, Years of Culture is built around being good listeners. Each partnership is shaped by what the other side values and wants to explore. Programmes emerge through dialogue, identifying shared interests that already exist between societies. In practice, this has resulted in cultural, educational, sporting, and creative collaborations that feel locally relevant rather than externally designed.

This approach reflects a deeper cultural logic. In Qatari society, dialogue has traditionally taken place in the majlis, a setting defined by participation. The majlis functions as a space for deliberation and collective problem solving. Years of Culture extends that instinct outward through cultural encounter.

Each partnership is shaped through consultation and co-creation. Rather than presenting a predetermined calendar of activities, programmes are developed around overlapping interests like design, food, sport, heritage, education identified jointly by participants and partner countries.

Sometimes, these shared interests are unexpected. Hiking, for example, has emerged as a point of connection in partnerships with countries defined by mountainous landscapes, such as Argentina and Chile.

Outdoor exchange shows this most clearly. Hiking and exploration programmes bring participants into environments where hierarchy fades and conversation becomes direct. Movement removes formality. Shared effort builds trust. People meet each other as individuals rather than representatives.

In the Andes, 13 CultuHike participants and guides from Qatar, Argentina and Chile moved between the two countries through steep valleys, fast rivers and narrow passes carved by centuries of weather and movement.

Mornings began with cold air and the sound of water running through rock. Meals were shared beside campfires. Conversation settled into something unguarded. Vast landscapes encouraged perspective, and distance from routine created space for genuine connection.

That’s when new acquaintances became lifelong friendships and all prejudices fell away. Local hosts opened their houses and homesteads, hosting the participants with home cooked meals and stories.

For those of us from Qatar, there is resonance in this experience. The desert teaches similar lessons to the mountains. Preparation, patience, humility and cooperation are not optional. Though environments differ, both cultivate respect for land and for those who live within it. Recognising that shared understanding builds connection without forcing comparison.

These forms of exchange illustrate why the initiative has gained traction. Participants are invited to engage with something they already value, alongside Qatari counterparts doing the same. The result is cultural recognition.

This model also has practical implications. When partnerships are rooted in genuine interest, they tend to generate longer-term collaboration. Cultural diplomacy becomes legacy.

Legacy is not infrastructure or programming alone. It lives in people. It exists in relationships formed on a trail, in perspectives broadened through conversation, and in the understanding carried forward into future collaboration. Expeditions last days. Their influence travels far longer.

Years of Culture operates with that horizon in mind. Exchanges act as catalysts rather than endpoints.

At a national level, this approach contributes to something broader. It reinforces Qatar’s reputation as a country willing to engage openly, learn continuously, and build relationships grounded in respect.

If cultural policy is judged by what it leaves behind, listening is not just a method—it is the policy itself.

Ali bin Towar Al Kuwari is a Qatari television presenter, traveller, author, and media personality. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and a Master of Science in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of San Diego in the United States. He is author of the book The Life of an Adventurer. Ali also plays a leading role in Qatar’s cultural diplomacy efforts: he is the Sports Lead for the Years of Culture initiative and the Creator of the CultuHike and CultuRide programmes, experiential platforms that use sport and shared exploration to promote people-to-people cultural exchange under the Years of Culture umbrella.

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Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.