8th Global Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations held in New York
On November 19-20, 2018, Vice Minister of Social Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, national coordinator for the UN Alliance of Civilizations Berik Aryn participated in the 8th Global forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations, which was held for the first time at the UN Headquarters in New York.
The main theme of the two-day forum was «Partnership for conflict prevention and peacekeeping».
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, High representative of the UN Alliance of Civilizations Nasir Abdulaziz al-Nasser, President of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly Maria Espinosa, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, state Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar Sultan al-Muheiri and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of Spain Fernando Marzo addressed the opening ceremony of the forum.
In his welcome speech, Guterres stressed the role of the Alliance of civilizations in creating more peaceful, just and sustainable societies. «To do this, we need to promote conditions under which people of different cultures and religions can live in harmony, without discrimination and persecution», -said the UN Secretary General.
Espinosa noted the need to develop effective methods of countering violent extremism, discrimination and xenophobia on a religious and cultural basis.
High representative N. al-Nasser said that the projects of the Alliance of civilizations helped build bridges over the widening rifts between civilizations and had a positive impact on the lives of thousands of people, especially young people.
Speaking at the meeting in the framework of the forum the Ministerial meeting of the group of friends of Alliance of civilizations, B. Aryn noted the important role of the Alliance in promoting understanding between civilizations, stressing that the goals and objectives of the Alliance is the development of interreligious and intercultural dialogue, as a mechanism of maintaining global and regional security, the implementation of various programmes and projects on education, youth, migration and media – in tune with the initiatives of the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev aimed at building sustainable peace.
National coordinator B. Aryn expressed Kazakhstan's readiness to further expand cooperation with the Alliance of civilizations and exchange experience to develop mutually acceptable approaches to involve civil society, religious groups, youth, women, and the media in joint work to strengthen security, combat religious radicalism and extremism, and instill the values of moderation and tolerance.
In this context, he informed about the creation of the «N. Nazarbayev Center for the development of interreligious and intercivilizational dialogue» in Astana and the Declaration of 2019 as the Year of youth in Kazakhstan.
During the forum, UN Secretary-General A. Guterres announced the appointment of former Spanish foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos as the new high representative of the Alliance of Civilizations, who will take up his duties on January 1, 2019.
On the «margins» of the forum, breakout sessions were held on issues of interreligious and intercultural dialogue in conflict prevention and peace-building in post-conflict countries, strengthening women's leadership and involvement in maintaining peace, involving the private sector and civil society in efforts to build peace, the role and responsibility of religious leaders and organizations in creating a global safe environment, digital diplomacy, education, migration and the media, as well as a youth forum and an award ceremony for the winners of the PLURAL+ video festival on migration and preventing xenophobia.
Prominent political figures, including former Prime Ministers of Spain, made speeches at the meetings H. Zapatero and Australia C.Rudd, former President of Slovenia D. Turk, former Secretary-General of the League of Arab States Amr Moussa, UN Secretary-General's envoy for youth Affairs J.Wikramanayake and others.
Kazakhstan joined the group of friends of the UN Alliance of civilizations on November 16, 2005. Since 2008, Kazakhstan has been actively participating in the Global forums of the UN Alliance of civilizations, which are held every two years in different countries of the world.
Representatives of the Alliance of civilizations, including its High representative N. al-Nasser, regularly participate in the Congress of leaders of world and traditional religions, and support Kazakhstan's global initiatives to strengthen peace and stability.