BAKU TO HOST CONFERENCE OF MINISTERS RESPONSIBLE FOR CULTURE
A Council of Europe conference of ministers responsible for cultural affairs will be held in Baku on December 2-3.
The event will take place at the initiative and with support of Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev. It will be co-organized by the Azerbaijani Government and CoE.
The conference is the first ministerial event organized as a follow-up to the Council of Europe`s White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue, adopted in May 2008.
It will bring together senior officials from 10 international organizations, 16 culture ministers, 18 deputy culture ministers and other high-level officials from 19 countries. Media representatives from 11 foreign countries are said to arrive in Azerbaijan to cover the event.
As reported, a number of sectorial meetings are also expected to be held in the frame of Conference.
The Conference will be attended by COE Secretary General, directors of ISESCO and ALESCO international organizations, as well as representatives from Serbia, Poland, Croatia, Turkey, Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, Spain, Germany, Romania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Belarus, Macedonia, Moldova, Slovakia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Tajikistan, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Malaysia, Kyrgyzstan, Hungary, Morocco, the Netherlands and Denmark.
The two-day event will allow ministers and high-level policy makers to explore approaches to intercultural dialogue and opportunities for trans-national co-operation, using the unique potential of culture, the arts and heritage.
A final conference document - Baku Declaration is due to be adopted at the conference.