At a meeting with representatives of governorates across Upper Egypt, Mohamed Moussa Tony, chairman of Egypt's central and southern cultural province, called for the implementation of a "massive cultural initiative" across the country, especially in the south, aimed at fostering cultural awareness and development during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, Egypt's state news agency MENA has reported.

According to Tony, the cultural programme will highlight cultural and artistic diversity by holding artistic, cultural and religious seminars, intellectual forums, poetry readings, concerts featuring Arabic folkloric music, theatrical productions for adults and children, and puppet s shows.

Tony also emphasised the importance of the modern visual arts – in which the people of Upper Egypt were particularly interested – in this year's cultural programme. Exhibitions are also therefore expected to include Islamic calligraphy and crafts, in addition to plastic arts.

The visual arts programme will also feature a number of artistic workshops and competitions.

The programme, Tony explained, aims to enlighten and inform the people of southern Egypt about the value of the arts and encourage popular participation in the overall development of Egyptian artistic life.

The Ramadan 2012 cultural programme, Tony concluded, would focus on "villages and underprivileged cities" and would include cultural celebrations in parks, public squares and youth centres across the country.