Foreign Minister of the Republic of Cyprus Markos Kyprianou has participated in the ministerial meeting of the EU with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, which reviewed issues concerning the EU and the US relations.
Kyprianou will meet his US counterpart on Thursday while Rice will meet earlier in the day Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis.
The Cypriot FM addressed on Wednesday the Ministerial Meeting of the Group of Friends of the Alliance of Civilizations.
In his speech, Kyprianou shared Cyprus’ views on the scope and goals of the Alliance of Civilizations and the Group of Friends.
He said that since the proposal was launched in 2005, Cyprus has been very supportive of its initiatives aiming to encourage dialogue among different nations, cultures and creeds. “We consider the continuation and reinforcement of this dialogue very important, since it helps us better understand each other, counter misperceptions and work for our common future and mutual prosperity”, he said.
While religion and other differences between people are still exploited by some to further political objectives through violence against the “other”, Cyprus is committed to the principle of international legality, to full respect of human rights without discrimination of any form and to dialogue as a means to restore peace and stability, the Minister said.
He added that “the ‘other’ should cease to represent a method for instilling hate and promoting conflict. It should stand as an opportunity to further expand our horizons, benefiting by the sharing of different views and knowledge”.
Kyprianou said that Cyprus became a member of the Alliance of Civilizations and the Group of Friends in the beginning of this year and participated in the First Forum of the Alliance held in January in Madrid.
“The successful outcome of this Forum and the transformation of the Alliance to an action-oriented initiative gave a new impetus to our approach. Cyprus is committed to be part of this momentum and is ready to examine in the future the possibility of drawing a National Action Plan in order to materialize the aims of the Alliance”, the Minister said, adding that “we are also looking forward in participating in the next forum of the Alliance, to be held in 2009 in Istanbul, Turkey”.
In 2008, he added, during the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, Cyprus organised and participated in various cultural events that brought closer together people from diverse faiths and backgrounds. “Being at the crossroads of so many cultures and religions, Cyprus can truly act as a bridge in promoting the goals and principles of the Alliance”, he remarked.
Concluding, Kyprianou said that the proposed Action Plan of cooperation between the European Union and the Alliance of Civilisations is an excellent project which “defines the areas of cooperation between the two organizations, as well as actions that can reinforce and complement the connection between them”.
