Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
Trend:
Azerbaijan, as a country located at the junction of civilizations, cultures and religions, has much to offer to the world community in terms of intercultural dialogue, tolerance and respect for others, First Vice-President of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva said.
She was speaking May 18 in Paris at a conference marking the 80th birth anniversary of Koichiro Matsuura, UNESCO director-general from 1999 to 2009.
“First of all, I want to express my gratitude for the invitation and I am very happy to be here among my friends and colleagues at UNESCO. Let me to congratulate you, dear Mr. Matsuura, on the occasion of the 80th jubilee and wish you good health and success. We highly appreciate the work you have done in the capacity of the Director General of UNESCO. The reforms that you carried out during your office enabled to strengthen UNESCO's reputation in the world. Your name is always mentioned when it comes to a number of successful humanitarian projects, for example, the international project "Education for All" and many others. Under your leadership, relations between UNESCO and our country have become even stronger. We recall with a deep gratitude your visit to Baku, your personal participation in joint forums and conferences”, Mehriban Aliyeva said.
“Multiculturalism is a national policy in Azerbaijan and we cooperate with the international community, including UNESCO in promoting the values of multiculturalism,”said First Vice-President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Mehriban Aliyeva.
“I would like to mention here the Baku process, initiated by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, which became a truly global platform for promotion of the intercultural and interfaithdialogue. It was initially put forward as a platform for cooperation between member countries of the Council of Europe and members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. It was in 2008 that Azerbaijan as a member of both these international organizationsinitiated a meeting of the Ministers of Culture of OIC and Council of Europe in Baku. And this process continues up to date. This year, we celebrate the 10th anniversary of Baku Process. In close partnership with UNESCO, we have successfully organized foureditions of World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue within the Baku Process and we are ready to continue this work in the future,” she said.
“Located in the center of ancient Silk Road, Azerbaijan has a long history as a place where ideals can be shared and people came together in the friendly environment. As a country situated on the crossroads of civilizations, cultures, and religions, Azerbaijan has a lot to offer to international community in terms of cultural dialogue, tolerance and respect toward others. Today, multiculturalism is a national policy in Azerbaijan and we cooperate with the international community, including UNESCO in promoting the values of multiculturalism,” First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva added.