RIYADH: A month-long series of events to celebrate Europe Month in Saudi Arabia 2018 will feature exhibition, fairs, concert and a film festival. The annual program, organized by the EU delegation in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Information and the embassies of EU countries, began with a children’s book fair at the King Fahd Cultural Center on Thursday evening, which was opened by Alexis Konstantopoulos, charge d’affaires at the EU delegation. The closing ceremony on May 10 will feature a classical-piano concert by the distinguished Italian pianist Scipione Sangiovanni. Michele Cervone D’urso, head of the Riyadh-based EU delegation to the GCC, said on Thursday that the EU marks Europe Day on May 9 with celebrations for peace and unity. “It is the day of the founding moment of the EU integration in 1950 and considered as the first-ever official document paving the way for the birth of the European Union, bringing 28 countries and more than 500 million people from different cultures, languages and beliefs into one single political entity,” he said. Europe Month in Saudi Arabia was “an attempt to scale up the dialogue between the people of the EU and the Kingdom,” he added. D’urso said that the Kingdom was the first GCC country to set up a dedicated mission to the EU in Brussels. “It showed the keen interest of the Kingdom in maintaining friendly relations with the EU countries,” he said. The calendar of events begins with a musical concert at the residence of the French ambassador on April 5, followed by a documentary film screening at the embassy of the Netherlands on April 10, a reading and storytelling evening at the Goethe Institute in Um Al Hammam on April 12, and a classical-music concert at the residence of the Italian ambassador on April 13. Another classical music concert will be held at the residence of the German ambassador on April 17. There will also be the Golden Falcon film festival at the Netherlands embassy on April 17-18, a film screening at the German embassy on April 18, an exhibition on the Tatar community in Poland at the residence of Polish ambassador on April 19, a film screening at the embassy of Hungary on April 22, a film screening at the residence of the Belgian ambassador on April 23, a film screening at the British embassy on April 26, a jazz-fusion concert at the residence of the German ambassador on April 29 and at the Goethe Institute on April 30, and a film screening at the embassy of Portugal on May 2. There will also be a Saudi conceptual-art event at the residence of the EU ambassador on May 2 and a Europe Day celebration at Tuwaiq Palace in the Diplomatic Quarter on May 9 to mark the 68th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration. The closing ceremony at the residence of the EU ambassador on May 10 will feature the classical-piano concert by the distinguished Italian pianist Scipione Sangiovanni. This year the choir of the Greek Cypriot School in Riyadh will perform the EU anthem, which will be followed by a reception. D’urso said that the Saudi conceptual artist Abdul Naser Al-Ghunaim will make a presentation and live performance at the Kingdom’s conceptual-art event.