FIRST ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS FORUM TO BE HELD IN MADRID 15-16 JANUARY 2008

Author Paulo Coelho, Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi, Queen Noor of Jordan, Al Jazeera anchor Riz Khan, Amr Moussa, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, and Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, are among the public figures coming to Madrid on 15-16 January to find new ways to bridge the growing divide between nations and cultures worldwide and to establish new partnerships to promote global understanding.

Hosted by the Government of Spain, the Alliance of Civilizations Forum will convene political leaders, media heads, grassroots and civil society leaders, corporate and film industry executives, and religious figures.

The Forum will be opened by Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of Spain, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and President Jorge Sampaio, High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations.

The Forum will feature announcements of high-profile initiatives, including major projects aimed at promoting understanding among cultures in the areas of media and youth.  Other commitments and partnerships involving Governments and multilateral organizations will be announced at the Forum.

Two key Alliance projects being announced at the Forum are:

-- The Alliance of Civilizations Rapid Response Media Mechanism, an online directory of experts on intercultural issues whom the media can turn to in times of international crises.

-- The Alliance of Civilizations Clearinghouse, an online educational tool on multiple issues aimed at improving cross-cultural understanding.  The first clearinghouse, on media literacy education, will be launched at the Forum.

Information about the Alliance of Civilizations Forum is available at www.madridaocforum.org.  Documents that can be found on the website include accreditation procedures; basic information on logistics, Forum venue and services; contacts to arrange interviews with participants; concept papers for the working sessions; background information about the Alliance; and recent updates.

For general information about the Alliance of Civilizations and the Forum, please contact Emmanuel Kattan, +1 917 547 0073, kattan@un.org; or Daanish Masood, +1 917 847 3084, daanishm@unops.org.

For information and questions about media accreditation, please contact Octavio Cabezas, +34 607 190 217, octavio.cabezas@mpr.es.

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For information media • not an official record