NEW YORK: The High Panel on Peace and Dialogue Among Cultures met at the United Nations headquarters here Saturday night under the chairmanship of UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova and with the participation of the members of the Panel. The meeting was attended by Prince Turki Al-Faisal, Chairman of the Board of Directors of King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies; Dr. Abdul Aziz Othman Al-Tuwaijri, Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO); and Dr. Ziad Al-Drees, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to UNESCO. Addressing the panel, Prince Turki reviewed the leading roles played by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah in his initiative for calls for dialogue between cultures and followers of religions. Prince Turki reviewed the phases of the initiative since the Makkah Conference, Madrid Conference, and the Summit held with the participation of 65 heads of state at the UN headquarters. He asserted the importance of promoting the values of education, culture, science and an interest in the roles of youth and women in societies. He also stressed the importance of disseminating cultures of peace, tolerance, and the renunciation of violence as a means of avoiding conflict and of combating racism, extremism and terrorism. At the end of the meeting, an open symposium was held in the presence of the Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon and a large number of prominent personalities in intellectual and cultural fields, during which they discussed the goals of dialogue among civilizations and cultures.
