The incumbent Iranian president, Mohammad Khatami whose presidency will end in August is determined not to give up on his proposal for dialogue among civilisations.
President Khatami has reportedly registered an international non-governmental organisation specifically designed to promote dialogue among civilisations and cultures.
The organisation’s focal activity would be in line with studying various cultures and civilisation and finding the most appropriate ways on creating a platform from which such cultures and civilisation could enter into constructive and productive dialogue.
Khatami will start heading the organisation after the end of his second and final term of his presidency.
Most probably, the Iranian president will be opening up offices in Vienna and Zurich for his International NGO.
However, the outgoing Iranian president had already established a similar organisation in February 1999 called “the International Centre for Dialogue Among Civilizations” (ICDAC) but unlike his recent organisation was run under the government.
In septemebr 1998, President Khatami addressed the United Nations where he said: “I would like to propose, in the name of the Islamic Republic of Iran, that the United Nations, as a first step, designate the year 2001 as the "Year of Dialogue among Civilizations”.
In response to the proposal made by the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the United Nations' General Assembly declared 2001 as the year of Dialogue Among Civilizations. The Iranian government subsequently founded the International Centre for Dialogue Among Civilizations in 1999.
International Centre for Dialogue Among Civilizations (ICDAC)
The new website for International Centre for Dialogue Among Civilizations (ICDAC)
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