On November 25-27, in Cascais (Portugal), Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Vershinin took part in the 10th Global Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations (AC).
The main objectives of the Alliance and the event are to consolidate the efforts of member states and civil society in the interests of preventing a civilizational split, overcoming the division and alienation of cultures, and leveling interreligious contradictions. Since the establishment of the structure in 2005, Russia has been making a tangible contribution to its activities, including as a member of the Friends of the AC Group.
The anniversary Forum brought together a wide range of officials, religious and spiritual leaders, representatives of international and regional organizations, the academic community, youth and NGOs. The main attention was paid to summarizing the results of the Alliance’s activities over almost 20 years of its existence and determining further directions for the development of multifaceted interaction on its platform. Special attention was paid to the problems of interreligious dialogue within the framework of a special conference on the protection of religious sites.
In his speech at the high-level meeting of the Friends of the AC, S.V.Vershinin outlined the fundamental Russian approaches to deepening the inter-civilizational dialogue based on the diversity of cultures and respect for religions. The importance of combating manifestations of neo-Nazism, the need to counter extremism and radicalism, including on confessional grounds, the inadmissibility of persecution of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and the perniciousness of the “culture of abolition” practiced by Westerners were emphasized.
The Deputy Minister noted that the Russian side attaches particular importance to the work of the Alliance in the context of dynamic processes in international relations, which are also characterized by increasing turbulence, a lack of trust and increased fragmentation. It is hoped that the structure will make a concrete contribution to neutralizing these negative trends.
On the sidelines of the event, Sergey Vershinin held a number of bilateral meetings, including with Deputy Foreign Ministers of Saudi Arabia V. Al-Khureiji, Venezuela R. Molino, and the Dominican Republic H.Gomez, Minister of State of Palestine for Foreign Affairs and Compatriots Abroad V. Aghabekyan-Shaheen, Special Representative of the People’s Republic of China for European Affairs Hongbo Wu. There was a discussion of issues of joint work on the site of the AC and other subjects of mutual interest.
