In  his  keynote  address  during  the opening  session of  the  First Philippines-Iran Bilateral Conference on Dialogue  Among  Civilizations,  Foreign  Affairs  Secretary Blas F. Ople  today  said  that  dialogue  among civilizations will provide the opportunity to take the peoples of the world to a higher level of humanity.

“A sustained dialogue will ensure an environment that will be conducive to a greater understanding among peoples, and will show to the world that terrorism and fanaticism are aberrations that must be eradicated,” the Secretary said in his remarks.
The concept of a dialogue of civilizations was an initiative launched by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami in September 1998 as a means to prevent the outbreak of hostilities because of cultural cleavages or historical animosities.   The United Nations adopted the initiative and declared the year 2001 as the UN Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations.
The Secretary said that the world “is being faced with and is being given the chance to understand and accept the age-old uniqueness of cultures, as well as their commonalities” and that this “will enable us to usher in a future of concerted efforts towards the achievement of lasting peace.”

“In January of this year, I had the opportunity to personally reiterate to President Khatami the Philippines’ full support of his campaign for a Dialogue Among Civilizations.  I informed His Excellency that the Philippines looks forward to the holding of this Conference, which we are hosting today, as our modest contribution in making this dialogue a reality.  I trust that our dialogue will be a big step in bridging the gap and promoting better understanding between our countries and peoples,” the Secretary said in his keynote address.

For his part, the head of the Iranian Delegation, Dr. Hamid Reza Assefi, spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in his opening remarks that “A fundamental way of struggling with the growth of hatred and violence in the world, is combating ignorance, on one side and promotion of understanding of each other’s culture on the other.”

Dr. Assefi agreed with Secretary Ople that promoting dialogue among civilizations is an important method towards reaching greater understanding. “The logic of culture is based on dialogue, establishment of relation and understanding. It is unfortunate that major part of present world problems originates from lack of cultural logic and dialogue and dominance of the logic of power and profiteering over the logic of culture and morality,” Dr. Assefi explained.

“In our view, one of the principle ways for making the world healthy is that national and international politics should give way to the domain of culture and cultural wisdom and the logic of dialogue, understanding and cultural pluralism,” according to Dr. Assefi.

Aside from Dr. Assefi, the following compose the Iranian Delegation; Adolhraim Gavahi, advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Tehereh Eb-rahim Far, an academician; Mahmoud Asadian, head of the cultural division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and Hossein Ghorbani, cultural expert from the Iranian foreign ministry.

Filipino diplomats, academicians and cultural experts are attending the forum. Heading the Philippine delegation is Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Delia Albert with the following as members of the delegation:  Jesus Peralta, consultant and writer for the National Council for Culture and Arts; Aurora Roxas Lim, University of the Philippines professor; Macapando Muslim, chancellor of the Mindanao State University; Florentino Hornedo, professor at the University of Santo Tomas Graduate School; and former Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rosario Manalo. END.