2024-07-16 09:23:06
“By working together, valuing different cultures and promoting mutual respect, we can preserve this richness and build a future where diversity is celebrated and global collaboration is the key to sustainable development and peace,” said Mr. Addahre, who was speaking at a ministerial conference organized as part of the World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue, which runs until May 3 in the capital of Azerbaijan.
For centuries, culture has been a source of discovery, knowledge, inspiration and creativity, fostering interaction between human groups, he recalled during this conference under the theme: “Harmony and diversity: Fostering intercultural dialogue for a global cultural renaissance”.
Today, in a globalized world, he added, advances in real and virtual emerging technologies, communication, transportation, serve as a vector to bring people together, ensuring that culture evolves across time and space in line with these changes.
Thus, cultural diversity is increasingly present in our daily lives, where different languages, beliefs, traditions and ways of life coexist and further underline the importance of universal human values of coexistence, tolerance and living together, he noted.
The Moroccan diplomat, also present at this Forum as President of the Organizing Committee of the UNESCO African Week for the 2024 edition, called for a contribution from all to the collective efforts aimed at preserving and strengthening diversity as an invaluable asset and benefiting from it.
To address these challenges, he considered it essential to promote international cooperation, on the one hand, between States and relevant institutions, and on the other hand, through international legal instruments and appropriate mechanisms.
International frameworks such as the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions provide an essential platform for constructive collaboration on cultural diversity issues, he noted.
Likewise, bilateral and multilateral agreements between governments, particularly those concerning cultural property, represent concrete means of promoting coordinated action for the preservation of cultural heritage, he added, stressing that initiatives such as the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, of which Morocco had the honor of hosting the 9th Forum in November 2022, offer a valuable space, as does that of the Baku Forum.
To foster intercultural dialogue, Mr. Addahre called for constructive collaboration among various stakeholders, also emphasizing the importance of knowledge sharing and capacity building programs as well as increased engagement in funding cultural initiatives.
Organized by the Azerbaijani government, in partnership with UNESCO, the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, the World Tourism Organization and the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), the World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue brings together nearly 700 personalities from more than 100 countries.
In addition to Mr. Addahre, Morocco is represented at this three-day forum by the Kingdom’s ambassador to Azerbaijan, Adil Embarch, and the president of the Education and Cultural and Social Affairs Commission of the House of Advisors, Abderrahmane Drissi.
2024-07-16 09:23:06