Established in 2005, the Alliance of Civilizations (AoC) aims to improve understanding and cooperative relations amongst nations and peoples across cultures and religions and, in the process, to help counter the forces that fuel polarization and extremism.

This goal is extremely ambitious and requires the involvement of governments, international organizations, civil society groups, and the private sector. Furthermore, we strongly believe that this goal is unattainable without the active participation of local governments. In order to assure the involvement of local governments, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Alliance of Civilizations and United Cities and Local Governments in Madrid in January 2008. This document acknowledges the importance of cities in the promotion of dialogue between cultures and stresses the importance of City Diplomacy as a crucial instrument in fostering dialogue between cultures. The workshop will give several examples of how this local dimension of the work of the Alliance of Civilizations is taking shape in quite different contexts.

The goals of the workshop are:
• to define the role that local governments can play in elaborating and implementing the Memorandum of Understanding between the AoC and UCLG;
• to identify and exchange best practices;
• to contribute to the establishment of the ‘The Hague Agenda on City Diplomacy” by suggesting specific initiatives.

 

Moderator
Antoni Fogué y Moya, President of the Province of Barcelona

Speakers
Jorge Sampaio, UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilisations and Former President of the Portuguese Republic

Assia Bensalah Alaoui, Prof. of International Law, Mohamed V University, Rabat (Morocco) and former President of the European Commission’s High Level Advisory Group on Intercultural Dialogue in the Mediterranean Area

Pedro Castro, Mayor of Getafe, Spain, and President of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP)

Manel Manonelles, Director of the Foundation for Peace Culture

 

 

The Local Dimension of the Alliance of Civilisations