Vice-President of Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva attends plenary session of 5th World Forum on Intercultural DialogueVIDEO
Baku, May 3, AZERTAC
The 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue has featured the second plenary session on “Youth for peace: Building a counter-narrative to violent extremism”.
Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva attended the session.
Leyla Aliyeva addressed the session which was moderated by High Representative of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Miguel Àngel Moratinos.
Speech of Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva
Dear friends, colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,
First of all, I would like to welcome you in beautiful Baku at the 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue, a platform to support the diversity and peaceful co-existence. It is wonderful to see so many people from all around the globe organized by the reason to make this world a better place. Rich diversity, cultural differences and understanding that will all connected by the bond of humanity that is what brings us all together here today. I am especially pleased to take part in the discussion on youth role in promoting peace and embracing diversity. Young people have an amazing ability to build multiple networks and transcend all borders and frontlines. By striving for work peace and harmony young people are often regarded as hopeless romantics. I think it is a cynical attitude. I truly believe the openness of youth for dialogue is exactly what will lead to peace and prosperity.
Dear friends,
Education does not just mean gaining knowledge and skills for professional development. Moral and spiritual education is equally important. In this regard, family and schools are two core institutions. The family plays an important role in preparing children for a peaceful world by nurturing such values as compromise, cooperation and respect for all humans. Lack of these values create a vacuum that can be filled by feelings of hate, emptiness and intolerance.
At the same time, empowering young people with proper education and training is essential in order to fulfill their full potential. Young people have the ability to learn quickly and observe as well as process tones of information. They are also more aware of protecting our environment and magical benefit nature gives of all us. Yet, too much pressure shouldn’t be put on young people. As it showed the world’s mightiest people are not always happy. Some are stressed, diseased. This means we must support the youth to create a better world than the one we have created for them. So they can enjoy the beautiful planet and live in harmony. And with the development of high technologies the speed of our thoughts increased drastically and our thoughts are one of the most powerful energies. It is faster than the speed of light. The world needs to invest in this potential and make sure the young generation has all the right opportunities for development. There are more young people in the world today than ever before. Their ideas and innovations could transform the future of the whole planet. But there are 617 million youth worldwide still lack math and literature skills. And this means we are missing their precious potential.
Youth are the embodiment of progress. Each new generation is more advanced than the previous one. It is also more humane, tolerant, compassionate and open-minded. This is just a natural cause of history. So let’s help young people direct their energy at solving global problems. Let’s help them help all of us. Time is the most important resource in life. So let’s not waste it. Words must always be followed by actions. And we should not forget our intuition which is a sacred gift given to every human being. Everyone can make a difference in building a peaceful and sustainable community of nations by changing themselves and improving the way they see the universe.
Dear friends,
Like Jesus said we should learn from children. They speak and make the truth, are straight forward and eager to do good deeds. They are the living reminder of essential things that grown-ups turn to forget all the time. The material world does not mean success. And what is important in life is love, health, happiness, unity, understanding and unconditional support of each other. And that is all what I would like to wish all of us. Thank you.
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