Iftah Ya Simsim (Arabic: افتح يا سمسم; meaning "Open Sesame"‎‎) is the first international co-production of the American children's television series Sesame Street created in the Arab world. It premiered in Kuwait in 1979 with a big collaboration with Iraq was broadcast in 22 Arabic-speaking countries and ran until 1990. The program continued to be well-known decades after it went off the air. In 2010, talks between Arab organizations and governments planned to revive the show. In 1978, educators, mass media officers, and social planners agreed to adopt Sesame Street as a feasible and economical solution for the low attendance in preschools and illiteracy that plagued the region. They approached the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), the producers of the American show, and purchased the