In the opening speech Minister Zaorálek warned about building walls between different cultures. He spoke against the omnipresent pessimism that has been spreading around the world where various identitarian or cultural exclusivist voices sound louder and louder – at least in the Western world. He firmly believes in the universalism of human values. People appreciate cultures and values as something real and living, something that is constantly open to reflection, rethinking and sharing.

This year’s conference followed up successful results of the previous one hosted in Prague last year where it was confirmed that finding ways how to prevent prejudice and distrust in different cultural environments was needed. Among the guests was present Mr. Farid Shafiyev, ambassador of Azerbaijan, who held a speech on behalf of the OIC countries, followed by Mr. Fahad Abualnasr, Director General of the Vienna Intergovernmental Centre for Inter-cultural and Inter-religion Dialogue (KAICIID), founded by the Saudi Arabia, Austria and Spain with support of the Holy See, Mr. Thibault Chareton, representative of the UN Alliance of Civilization, or Mr. Abdelrahman Salahaddin, Ambassador of Egypt to Prague. Representatives from Indonesia, Yemen, Sudan, Palestine, Poland, Austria and Britain have been actively participating in the conference.

The experts agreed on the necessity to actively support good practices for journalists and politicians, that are actually supported by the UN Alliance of Civilizations, and as well as on the importance of “digital literacy” to be spread among the youth, including orientation in the virtual world and ability to distinguish between true and false information.

Conference on Media and Intercultural Dialogue