|
International
Progress
Organization joins World Public Forum for Dialogue of Civilizations
Moscow, 27
March 2006
P/RE/19638c-is
In a programmatic statement delivered at an international consultation
convened by the World Public Forum for the Dialogue of Civilizations
(WPFDC) in Moscow, the President of the International Progress
Organization, Dr. Hans Koechler, identified the absence of an
international balance of power as major obstacle to a global dialogue
among civilizations. A unipolar world order is not compatible with
equality and partnership among nations, the prerequisites of meaningful
dialogue; a constellation in which one party tries to impose its value
system and world perception upon virtually all other nations is
detrimental to dialogue as well as to global peace and stability, Dr.
Koechler explained. He said that the International Progress Organization
has been committed to the idea of a global dialogue of civilizations
since its very first international conference on "The Cultural
Self-comprehension of Nations" in 1974.
The International Progress Organization joined the "international
network of NGOs for the dialogue of civilizations" which was established
at the initiative of the World Public Forum "Dialogue of Civilizations"
in the course of the deliberations in Moscow (25-26 March 2006). The
meeting was presided by the Founding Chairman of the WPFDC, Mr.
Vladimir Yakunin (Russia), who stressed the need for better
co-ordination among non-governmental organizations at the global level.
The World Public Forum was established in 2003 through the joint efforts
of public forces in Russia, India and Greece. The position paper of the
WPFDC for the Moscow meeting states that other fora such as the World
Economic Forum or the World Social Forum have also emphasized the
interconnectedness of human destiny, but are not sufficiently attentive
to the role of different cultural, religious and civilizational
traditions. There is an urgent need "to fill this gap by engaging in a
creative and wideranging global dialogue between cultures, religions and
civilizations."
The international consultation was attended by NGO representatives from
Armenia, Austria, Germany, Greece, France, Italy, Russia, Singapore,
Switzerland, and Turkey. They elected Mr. Walter Schwimmer
(Austria), former Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, as
co-ordinator of the international network of NGOs for the dialogue of
civilizations, and discussed the program of the forthcoming annual
meeting of the World Public Forum to be held on the island of Rhodes (Greece)
in September 2006.
END/
International Progress
Organization joins World Public Forum for Dialogue of Civilizations/2006-03-27/P/RE/19638c-is |