The High Panel on Peace and Dialogue Among Cultures held a meeting at United Nations headquarters in New York last night under the chairmanship of UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova.

Addressing the panel, Prince Turki Al-Faisal, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, reviewed the leading role played by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz in promoting dialogue between cultures and religions. Prince Turki pointed to the convening, at King Abdullah’s initiative, of the Makkah and Madrid Conferences, a series of events that culminated in a summit at U.N. headquarters attended by sixty-five heads of state. Stressing the importance of disseminating a culture of peace, tolerance, and renunciation of violence in order to avoid conflict and to combat racism, extremism and terrorism, Prince Turki insisted upon the need to promote the values of education, culture, science and the roles of youth and women in societies.

The meeting was also attended by Dr. Abdulaziz Othman Al-Tuwaijri, Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), and Dr. Ziad Al-Drees, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom to UNESCO.