00:00 It's unique because it states every time it gets together the need to talk, the need to change, the need to understand the others.
00:11 And it really congregates a lot of participants that can contribute to that.
00:15 I feel it's very important that in the context of conflict, war, division, stress in our countries, we are reminded that humans need to talk.
00:26 Over 700 participants from 110 countries came together in Baku for the 6th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue.
00:39 This year's theme was peace and global security.
00:43 When we say peace and dialogue, we mean the dialogue not only between or among the governments, but also between and among the international organizations, which are also the major stakeholders in the international relations, and also among the peoples, among the communities, among the private sector and NGOs.
01:04 Azerbaijan President Aliyev attended the opening of the three-day forum and reflected on the success of the Baku process, a global strategy for intercultural dialogue.
01:16 As well as war and peace dominating the conversation, other debated issues included poverty, education, gender inequality and migration.
01:26 According to the 2024 World Migration Report, the number of displaced individuals has surged to the highest levels in modern-day records, reaching 117 million.
01:39 We are now facing a surge of refugee movements, people on the move.
01:44 Migrants in Europe are so stereotyped.
01:48 We bring with stories, or in the US, or everywhere, leadership, populist leadership, increasing populist leadership is bringing this division because they look different, because their identity is different.
01:59 Then it must be a problem, which it's not.
02:01 We need to use the capacity to learn from the diverging ways in which societies express themselves.
02:09 Climate issues were also topical and high on the agenda.
02:13 Timely so as Baku prepares to welcome the world when it hosts COP29 in November.
02:19 We all, myself included, we are defending saving the planet, saving the planet, saving the planet.
02:25 My mandate in today's conference is to save humanity.
02:30 Because you can save the planet, but you have not the capacity to understand each other, we will fail.
02:36 So I think that is where you have to put humanity.
02:41 And for me humanity is first.
02:43 And humanity is to stop war, is bringing peace, is bringing understanding, is bringing mutual acceptance, is bringing solidarity, fraternity.
02:53 One of the side events of the conference was a visit by multi-faith religious leaders to Shusha, which has been declared the culture capital of the Islamic world 2024.
03:04 The intercultural dialogue in Baku is important in terms of the will of Azerbaijan itself to promote its multicultural way of life to the entire world.
03:22 The very way that implies co-existence, cohesion and mutual respect of different cultures, religions and denominations.
03:37 I am a sheikh, a Muslim, but I often visit churches or synagogues in the same way.
03:45 Christian and Jewish leaders visit us and each other.
03:52 And we are always together.
03:54 What you are seeing today at this event in Shusha is a reflection of the state of things in our society, where we, representatives of different religions, live as one united family.
04:09 The idea and need for a more connected world was also welcomed at the forum.
04:14 There are many connections that we need to form between practice and academia, between private sector and civil society, between state and non-governmental organizations.
04:25 You may not be able to respond to these challenges overnight and it's really difficult to see the results that quickly.
04:32 But let's face it, we spend years, decades to kill each other, right?
04:38 So we shouldn't be that impatient when it comes to building peace.
04:42 It really takes, in a meaningful way, if it's done in a participatory way.
04:49 And with calls for more multilateralism, it's hoped that those challenges will be met moving forwards.
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