Dear Minister Amorim,

Dear President Sampaio,
Dear President of the General Assembly Treki,
Dear Colleagues and Friends

It gives me a great pleasure to address you in this spectacular place and in the magnificent city of Rio de Janeiro.

I am convinced that we will have a productive meeting and will all jointly contribute to further strengthening the universal importance of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations at its Third Global Forum.

Under the able and skillful guidance of President Sampaio, the Alliance has being rightly tackling very important issues. Today, we proudly recognize the expansion of the Group of friends, but also the scope of its programs and activities. I look forward to seeing the announced new projects in motion. I would therefore like to pay special tribute to President Sampaio and his restless team for all their hard work.

Mr. Chairman,

I would like to take this opportunity to inform you that the Macedonian government has recently adopted a comprehensive National Strategy for the attainment of the objectives of the Alliance of Civilizations. This strategy has involved a broad spectrum of national authorities in different fields reflecting the four main pillars of action of the Alliance – youth, education, media and migration. Now, we have a challenging task of operationalizing the strategy in result oriented projects and activities on national but also regional level in order to bring the Alliance’s goals and objectives to the very roots of the rich and diverse multicultural, multi-confessional society we have in our country.

Some of the proposed activities are underway or have already been realized. I would like to draw your attention to the Second World Conference on Dialogue among Religious and Civilization entitled: “Religion and Culture – Unbreakable Chain Among Nations”, recently held in Ohrid. The conference strongly echoed the need to protect and encourage all initiatives that can constitute bridges of connection and understanding, beyond cultural and religious barriers.

Mr. Chairman,

My country is currently chairing the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe which has dedicated a great part of its engagement in fostering intercultural dialogue and promoting cultural and religious diversities in Europe. In my capacity as a Chairman of the decision-making organ of this pan-European organization I am honored to say few words regarding the contribution this organization makes in promoting the values shared by the AoC too and in fulfilling its objectives.

The Committee of Ministers has been at the forefront with some twenty international conventions and protocols developed by our Organisation which have repercussions on intercultural dialogue and formulated several recommendations to member states with an intercultural dialogue relevance. The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950), the European Cultural Convention (1954), the European Social Charter (1961, Revised 2996), the Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (2005) are just a few examples.

The Institutions of the Council of Europe are all involved in promotion of intercultural dialogue. The European Court of Human rights plays an essential role in balancing diversity and unity and in fostering intercultural dialogue in the framework of human rights protection. A recent CoE report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Court’s jurisprudence in terms of the promotion of cultural diversity.

The Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities carry out regular debates with state and religious leaders and personalities. One of the recent Assembly reports on Islam and Islamophobia will be introduced by the President of the Assembly during this Forum. The CoE Human Rights Commissioner has also played an important role in fostering intercultural dialogue in post-conflict situations.

The Committee of Ministers has been holding since 2008 Annual “Exchanges” on the religious dimension of intercultural dialogue. Past themes focused on “teaching religious and convictional facts”. Under the Macedonian Chairmanship, the Committee of Ministers is currently preparing the 2010 Exchange on the theme of the religious dimension of intercultural dialogue in the media which will host in Orhid in September 2010.

In the framework of our CoE relationships at international level, Memoranda of Cooperation have been signed with the AoC and ALECSO, as well as with the Anna Lindh Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures. Our North-South Centre is a fundamental tool of cooperation at international level and in particular in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

One of the Macedonian priorities of the Committee of Ministers Chairmanship promotes youth participation in the Region of South East Europe and could be considered as one of the Council of Europe contributions featuring 2010 as the “International Year of Youth”, proclaimed by the UN. We intend to launch a process, which is aimed at providing an organized setting for exchange of views of young people, which could further foster their participation in the political processes and democratic reforms in their respective countries. This initiative is complementary to the activities within the Alliance of Civilizations and is part of our youth component of the National Strategy and a national contribution to the Alliance of Civilization. We will endeavour to combine global and regional activities for youth participation and further promote the standards of the Council of Europe and the objectives of the Alliance of Civilizations.

Mr. Chairman,

I would like to align myself with the High Representative’s proposal, who rightly draws our attention to very important issues that deserve our profound deliberations today. I would like to reflect on some of the raised questions and dilemmas.

I fully share his view that the Alliance should steer its course away of the possible divisions and over ever competing conception of rights and responsibilities as well on judgments about double standards policies, over religion and so on. The only credible answer we can provide is the unconditional respect and observance of the values and principles of our agreed UN and other international and regional instruments. As one of the mottos of the Alliance is Dialogue, we should not shy away from using this tool more robustly and overcome the risks and traps in our current and future activities.

We also support more deliberations on the issue of the concept of good or democratic governance of cultural diversity. This will eventually bring more clarifications and later enable appropriate operationalization.

Mr. Chairman,

The adoption of the first ever Regional AoC strategy for South Eastern Europe and Action plan for its implementation, provided our region, but also the involved international organizations and other countries, with the opportunity to work together on the ground and to deliver as one.

At the end, let me express our support for the adoption of the Ministerial Declaration at this Third Rio Global Forum.

Thank you.