Madrid – (IINA) – U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon joined the Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to open a forum of some 80 nations seeking to encourage understanding between the West and Muslim countries. In his keynote speech in the opening session of the two-day meeting of the Alliance of Civilizations, a U.N.-backed initiative aimed at encouraging dialogue between the West and Muslim countries, Ban Ki-moon said the world is in urgent need of dialogue between Western and Muslim countries as a way to combat terrorism. “Never in our lifetime has there been a more desperate need for constructive and committed dialogue, among individuals, among communities, among cultures, among and between nations,” he said. “The threats are terrifying but the responses are at hand. Fostering dialogue will not produce changes overnight. It is not the fast way. But it is the sure way,” Ban added.
On his part, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said the U.N.-backed initiative aimed to prevent a “clash of civilizations by promoting security, understanding, tolerance and mutual respect in a globalized world.” “It aspires to build bridges that can help us to manage the differences existing in the world, particularly those linked to religious or cultural issues,” Zapatero added. “In the Alliance of Civilizations process we have to achieve success. I am convinced that if we achieve success, we’ll find an antidote against terrorism,” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said before the opening.
The event was attended by dozens of government members, representatives of international organizations, civil society, the media and philanthropic foundations from dozens of countries. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, former Irish President Mary Robinson, Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho and Nigerian author and Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka were expected to attend. The forum is the first of its kind. It is aimed at building bridges between different cultures and religions, particularly between the West and Islamic countries. The meeting includes workshops on building cross-cultural understanding, on a community level, in areas like conflict prevention, religion and politics. A number of projects are expected to be announced during the forum, particularly targeting the media and youth, according to The Associated Press.
The Alliance has set education, migration, the media and youth as its four areas for special attention. The meeting will include workshops on issues ranging from building cross-cultural understanding of conflict prevention, religion and politics at the community level. Organizers said they planned to announce details of a media fund aimed at supporting major film productions that promote cross-cultural understanding and combat stereotypes. They said Sheikha Mozah, chairwoman of the Qatar Foundation, was also expected to announce a major financial commitment toward the establishment of a global youth employment initiative involving corporations, major multilateral organizations and governments.
It was Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who presented the alliance idea to the U.N. General Assembly in September 2004 after the March 11, 2004, terrorist bombings in Madrid that killed 191 people and injured more than 1,800. The initiative is seen by many as Zapatero’s attempt to counteract the military approach to terrorism fostered by the United States. Zapatero’s Socialists were elected to office in the wake of the 2004 attacks. One of his first measures was to bring home Spanish troops sent to Iraq by his conservative predecessor, Jose Maria Aznar, a strong ally of U.S. President George W. Bush. Turkey later became a co-sponsor of the project, which was adopted by the United Nations and now has the backing of more than 80 nations.
HA/IINA