US News
Panel on dialogue among civilizations ends debate
By DPA
Sep 6, 2006, 19:00 GMT

New York - A United Nations panel known as the Alliance of Civilizations ended discussion Wednesday on ways to foster understanding among civilizations, particularly between Western and Moslem nations.

The 15-member panel, which includes former Iranian President Mohamed Khatami, met for two days in closed-door discussion to work out its final recommendations on how to bridge differences among civilizations. It will present the document to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in November.

Khatami refused to address the media during the time he was at UN headquarters to attend the meetings.

The panel's co-chairs, Federico Mayor of Spain and Mehmet Aydin of Turkey, said the group had spent the past two years studying the roots of violence and extremism that have deeply divided the world since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States.

'We can offer mediation to bridge differences and bring about dialogue,' Mayor said.

Both Mayor and Aydin said the recommendations, which were not made public, would include suggestions to strengthen organizations like the UN and support multilateralism as ways to unite the world's civilizations. Other areas that need to be strengthened include education, youth issues, emigration and media, they said.

The 15-member panel includes prominent personalities in politics, religions and education, like British historian Karen Armstrong, former Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Pan Guang, a professor at Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.