Written contribution / Contribution écrite
by / par

H.E. Mohammad Ali Javadi,
The Mayor of Esfahan (Islamic Republic of Iran)

The ideas and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of UNESCO/Les idées et les opinions exprimées dans cet ouvrage sont celles de l'auteur et ne reflètent pas nécessairement les vues de l'UNESCO

Ladies, Gentlemen, Excellencies,

First of all, I would like to express my sincere words of thanks to His Excellency Yuri Lujkov, the Honourable Mayor of Moscow and His Excellency Federico Mayor, the Respectful Director General of UNESCO as the hosts of this holy gathering, for providing the participants with the opportunity to express their views about the theme of the conference. I also thank the initiators of the idea, mainly the representatives of culture and science in the Russian Federation.

Among the major duties and responsibilities of ours as the administrators of the cities is to foster international co-operation/exchange of ideas towards strengthening the solidarity among the citizens of our cities in different aspects. In our city plans, we have different short-term and long-term constructional, social and cultural programs for which we devote major time and budget. The program of the gathering "For the Culture of Peace and Dialogue among Civilisations in the Third Millennium" is a very long-term one for the benefit of all inhabitants of our cities have the right to enjoy peace, equality and liberty taken into consideration in our programs in one way or the other. It is the same with the inhabitants of the whole world, since the two ideas are interdependent. Saadi, a famous Iranian poet has a poem which means human races are inseparable since they are created from the same origin, and if one if injured, his injury will inevitably be transferred to the others.

Since we have suffered from the3 war some eight years, we are well aware of the privileges of peace. During the imposed war, part of our city was destroyed by the Iraqi bombs and missiles, and many civilians lost their lives. Some of our historical monuments were even destroyed during the war.

There is a biennial Dubai International Award for Best Practices in Improving the Living environment. We believe that an international award should be devoted to the best practices in improving the peace prior to the living environment, although the importance of the latter should not be neglected. This can be as effective as the Nobel Prize Program if the cities support it both financially and spiritually and introduce it well via the mass media. We also suggest to UNESCO to assign a course on teaching peace and creation of the culture of peace in the educational programs world-wide. No doubt, this will lead to spiritual development in education, which is the utmost goal of what education is about. Of course, the cities also can help UNESCO by participating in the program and giving their advice and experiences. Inter-city solidarity, no doubt, has a vital role in building a world of peace in all aspects. The solidarity among the cities can be best done within the framework of "Dialogue among Civilisations", since the majority, if not all, of the metropolises carry backgrounds of rich civilisations in one way or the other. Dialogue is proved to be the most suitable policy, if not the only one, in preventing wars and creating peace. As a short-term policy, it is the only solution for the tragedy in the Balkan Peninsula where the cities are being destroyed and the civilians are being killed. We should not ignore our responsibilities in this regard and take practical measures in order to help stop this tragedy. Referring to the issue in the Adoption of Moscow Declaration will add to the holy nature of the gathering, and it will no doubt have a vital role in at least alleviating the conflict.