Florida – (IINA)February 13– World leaders from Africa and the Middle East gathered on Monday at Florida State University for an intercultural dialogue designed to support a United Nations initiative, the Alliance of Civilizations. Rwandan President Paul Kagame was one among the leaders who spoke in support of the UN initiative, which also included a presentation by Saudi Arabia’s Minister of State Abdullah Alireza. The program titled “Bridging Civilizations” was sponsored by the FSU Claude Pepper Center for Intercultural Dialogue. It is the first event in the Pepper Center’s “year of dialogue” in which FSU will host other world leaders promoting the Alliance of Civilizations initiative.
Addressing the event, Rwandan President Paul Kagame brought his message of education and peace to Florida State University, expressing his desire to invest in his country’s best resource, its people. In years past, Kagame said education was used as a tool to teach hatred, but he has changed that and has increased educational opportunities in the once war-torn country. “The issue of quality education remains a considerable challenge. Education is almost everything,” Kagame said.
“This is a great moment for us here at the university,” said Monsignor William Kerr, executive director of the Claude Pepper Center, who organized the international conference. “It is our honor to host President Kagame, who I think will be regarded as one of the great presidents of this century.” Many have credited Kagame with turning Rwanda around since the genocide that occurred there in 1994, which killed thousands a day. Before 1994, Kagame said there was only one institution of higher learning in Rwanda with a thousand students, and now there are 18 colleges with about 40,000 students. The conference was intended to further the goals of the Alliance of Civilizations, a U.N. initiative launched in 2005 by the prime ministers of Spain and Turkey to promote mutual respect between civilizations and cultures and counter a trend toward extremism that has threatened international stability.
HI/HA/IINA
13 Feb 2008