1st Ministerial Meeting
Baku, Azerbaijan 31 May 2013
Thus the 2nd World Forum was planned to use its convening power to create space for effective and meaningful dialogue on cultural diversity. By working within the existing global context, the Forum has positioned itself alongside its partners, each of whom is responding to the challenges and opportunities that cultural diversity brings to communities and for social cohesion.
The Forum brought together significant local/national and global stakeholders. It combined plenary discussions on the overarching theme of the Forum – Living together peacefully in a diverse world – with sector-specific workshops promoting agendas of the partner organizations. Opportunity was taken to convene a first meeting of Ministers of Culture and Tourism from around the world to discuss initiatives to support the role of arts, music, entertainment and sports as well as other forms of collective expressions of human values to foster the culture of peace.
For the first time, in the framework of the 2nd World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in Baku, the culture and tourism ministers, deputy ministers and heads of relevant agencies of more than 77 countries met at the first meeting of Ministers. The first session of the 1st Ministerial Meeting of World Forum was devoted to the topic of “How can culture and creativity build intercultural confidence?”, while the second session mainly focused on the topic of “Common ground for intercultural dialogue: heritage and cultural tourism”. The event was moderated by the Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Azerbaijan – Mr. Abulfas Garayev.
