Baku Hosts 4th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue

The fourth World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue kicked off today in Baku, and is meant to focus on building trust and cooperation among cultures and civilizations throughout the world.

The theme for this year’s meeting is “New Avenues for Human Security, Peace and Sustainable Development.” The three-day forum includes nearly 40 panel discussions and workshops related to faith and religion, migration, human security, education sports, art, sustainable development and violent extremism, held at the Baku Congress Center and the Heydar Aliyev Center.

“We came together to discuss new challenges and ideas. We are trying to look into the past to better understand our future,” said Nada Al-Nashif, Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in an interview with Trend News Agency on Thursday. “Every year the forum gathers more and more participants, and this makes it even more and more interesting.”

Nada Al-Nashif, Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences at UNESCO while addressing the fourth World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in Baku. / Trend News Agency

This year’s forum is bringing together 120 officials from around the globe, including representatives from various international, regional, and ethnic-focused organizations, such as UNESCO, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, the Research Center for Islamic History, Art and Culture, the Cooperation Council of the Turkic Speaking States, and the International Organization of Turkic Culture (TURKSOY).

Al-Nashif stressed that the ultimate goal of the forum is to prevent conflicts, which requires an acute understanding of what unites people.

“What we are doing here is part of UNESCO’s intercultural dialogue efforts around the world,” Al-Nashif said.

Now in its fourth year, the forum is once more being held in Azerbaijan’s modern capital city of Baku, which lies along the western coast of the Caspian Sea. The first forum was held there from April 7-9, 2011, and addressed challenges faced within intercultural dialogue by approaching the issue from aspects such as conceptual frameworks, governance, policy, and practice.

“Azerbaijan has a lot of experience and traditions in intercultural dialogue, and with this experience it contributes to the development of intercultural dialogue in the world,” said Steven Shankman, Co-Director of UNESCO’s Crossings Institute for Intercultural Dialogue and Conflict-Sensitive Reporting at the University of Oregon, on Thursday. “The fourth World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue is an important step in this direction,” he added.

The forum is supported by the patronage of Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, UNESCO, the UN Alliance of Civilizations, the UN World Tourism Organization, the Council of Europe and the North-South Center of the Council of Europe.