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(mainly Mediterranean) Arab League Educational, Cultural

and Scientific Organization and Islamic Educational, Scientific

and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) member states, and

senior officials from the Council of Europe, the European

Commission, the United Nations Educational, Scientific

and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), GUAM, TURKSOY,

the Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture,

the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the

International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and

Restoration of Cultural Property and other international

organizations, foundations and European non-governmental

organizations (NGOs) took part in the events in Baku. They

were joined by leading international experts in the area of

cultural policy, intercultural dialogue and heritage, and prom-

inent figures from the arts/cultural community. As the result

of the conference, the Baku Declaration for the Promotion of

Intercultural Dialogue has been adopted and the Artists for

Dialogue project was launched.

As a continuation of the Baku Process, the Government of

Azerbaijan invited more than 10 states from Europe to partici-

pate at the Sixth Conference of Ministers of Culture of Islamic

countries held in Baku in 2009. According to the initiative

of the Government of Azerbaijan, a Ministerial Roundtable

on ‘Fostering dialogue and cultural diversity – Baku Process:

New challenge for dialogue between civilizations’ was organ-

ized among the member states of ISESCO and invited states

from Europe on the first day of this conference. Speakers in

this roundtable stressed the vital need to continue holding

such meetings between the Islamic community and the

European Community, to involve governments, peoples,

states and cultures in this dialogue, to make the youth the

main target group of cooperation projects of the two blocs,

and to focus international efforts in this regard. At the end

of this ministerial roundtable, a communiqué was adopted in

which the participants reiterated their support for joint efforts

aimed at spreading the culture of cooperation, fair dialogue

and mutual respect.

After the Islamic and European conferences, the

Government of Azerbaijan decided to organize a World

Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in Baku in 2011, under

the patronage of Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of

Azerbaijan, who declared the initiative at the 65th Session of

the United Nations General Assembly in 2010. The forum,

supported by prestigious international organizations includ-

ing UNESCO, the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations

(UNAOC), the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the

Council of Europe, the North-South Center of the Council of

Europe and ISESCO, was to advance the initiatives, realized

by Azerbaijan in the sphere of intercultural dialogue, from the

regional context to the global level, and to establish a fully-

functioning international forum in the country.

Building on previous events held in the Azerbaijani capital

on this theme and on the work developed by the stakeholder

organizations in recent years, the forum marked a strong

recognition that intercultural dialogue is one of the most

pressing challenges of our world and one that increasingly

manifests itself on a global scale. Baku, as a crossroads of

religions, histories, civilizations and traditions where intercul-

tural dialogue is an existing aspect of everyday life, and where

a relationship between Islam and modernity is in evidence,

seemed a particularly appropriate place to ask difficult

questions and look for promising answers. Some 500 repre-

sentatives from 102 countries on all continents – including

global public figures, heads of international organizations,

local authority figures, representatives of NGOs, enterprises

and the media, intellectuals and activists – participated in

the forum. This synergy between political leaders and offi-

cials, experts and practitioners was encouraged by informal

networking around the event. Euronews, as a media partner,

promoted the forum through its broadcasting networks.

The forum examined the barriers to dialogue and tackled, as

concretely as possible, the issue of how dialogue can best be

pursued in diverse contexts under the motto: ‘United through

common values, enriched by cultural diversity’. Plenary

sessions and workshops on the role of culture and cultural

diversity, education, faith and religion, journalism and social

media, science, women, youth, heritage and cities were held

in the framework of the forum.

The now-named 5A Intercultural Cooperation Platform

was established at the forum, which attracted widespread

attention for its scope of discussion items. Bearing in mind

the Azerbaijani language acronym of the first letters of the

five continents represented by large delegations at the event

– Avropa, Asiya, Amerika, Afrika and Avstraliya – the new

platform was symbolically named the ‘5 As’. After this success-

ful first forum, the Government of Azerbaijan decided to

organize the World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue once

every two years according to the decree signed by President

Ilham Aliyev in 2011.

From 29 May to 1 June 2013, the Government of Azerbaijan,

in cooperation with UNESCO, UNAOC, UNWTO, the Council

of Europe, ISESCO and the North-South Center of the Council

of Europe organized the 2nd World Forum on Intercultural

The 2nd World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in Baku drew 600

participants, representing 115 countries on all continents

Image: Min. of Culture & Tourism, Azerbaijan

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