Roundtable Discussion with President Sampaio

President Jorge Sampaio, former President of Portugal and the UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations (AoC), completed another successful visit to Egypt where he took part in comprehensive talks with the Egyptian side on bilateral, regional and multilateral issues.

The Canada Egypt Business Council, had the pleasure to meet with him for a second time after his first meeting with CEBC members in 2009. The arranged roundtable discussion was headed by Eng. Motaz Raslan, Chairman, CEBC and Ambassador Ferry de Kerckhove, Ambassador of Canada to Egypt and a group of eminent thinkers, politicians and CEBC members of the board. H.E. President Sampaio’s visit to Egypt comes in line with holding the Dialogue Forum that took place in the premises of the League of Arab States, under the title: “A New Era For Arab-West Relations”. The forum shed the light on the recent social transformations, media freedom and bridging the gap in mutual perceptions.

In his meeting with the CEBC, President Sampaio highlighted in his discussions the role of the Alliance of Civilization (AoC), established in 2005, at the initiative of the Governments of Spain and Turkey, under the auspices of the United Nations where a High-level Group of experts was formed by former Secretary-General Kofi Annan to explore the roots of polarization between societies and cultures today, and to recommend a practical program of action to address this issue. The Report of the High-level Group provided analysis and put forward practical recommendations that form the basis for the implementation plan of the Alliance of Civilizations.
In April 2007, President Sampaio, was appointed as the High Representative for the AoC by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to lead the implementation phase of the Alliance. The AoC Secretariat, based in New York, works in partnership with international and regional organizations, civil society groups, foundations, and the private sector to mobilize concerted efforts to promote cross-cultural relations among diverse nations and communities.

The Alliance is supporting a range of projects and initiatives aimed at building bridges among a diversity of cultures and communities.

President Sampaio highlighted during the meeting that the Alliance functions, both globally and within the UN system, in the following capacities:
A bridge builder and convener, connecting people and organizations devoted to promoting trust and understanding between diverse communities, particularly but not exclusively between Muslim and Western societies.
A catalyst and facilitator helping to give impetus to innovative projects aimed at reducing polarization between nations and cultures through joint pursuits and mutually beneficial partnerships.
An advocate for building respect and understanding among cultures and amplifying voices of moderation and reconciliation which help calm cultural and religious tensions between nations and peoples.
A platform to increase visibility, enhance the work and highlight the profile of initiatives devoted to building bridges between cultures.
A resource providing access to information and materials drawn from successful cooperative initiatives which could, in turn, be used by member states, institutions, organizations, or individuals seeking to initiate similar processes or projects.
The participants also agreed that in the wake of the current events taking place in the middle east and in Egypt specifically, there is no time more important or crucial as this time to stress on the importance of the dialogue and alliance between the different nations as well as entrenching the roots of polarization between societies and cultures and that there is a vital need for building respect and understanding among nations and amplifying voices of moderation and reconciliation which help calm cultural or even religious tensions between nations and peoples.
“During our last meeting with President Sampaio in 2009, who would ever have imagined what our Arab countries are facing today? or who would ever have predicted Egypt’s revolution, the toppling of the old regime and raising the flag of regaining freedom and dignity and hence opening a new page of meaningful change for our future and that of our children”, commented Raslan.

The audience then discussed some of the projects the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations is ready to develop in Egypt in order to contribute to a democratic transition process in addition to the role pf the Egyptian civil society in supporting the community in those critical times.

One of the most important promising projects discussed at the meeting, is the “Dialogue Café”, its idea lies simply in enabling face to face conversations between diverse groups of people from around the world so that they can share experiences, learn from each other and work together to make the world a better place. Dialogue Cafes are now open in Rio de Janeiro, Lisbon and Amsterdam. The AoC is now studying opening Dialogue Cafés in Cairo and Alexandria as part of its network and chose CEBC to help in that and to support and market for the project with other partners from the civil society.