Ohrid, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
28 - 31 August 2003

Under the auspices of Mr. Boris Trajkovski, President of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Mr. Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, all eight Heads of State from South-East Europe and a number of representatives of Heads of State from other regions, high-level representatives of the United Nations system, eminent scholars, intellectuals and politicians were invited to present their views on key issues within the framework of the follow-up to the United Nations Year for Dialogue among Civilizations. 

The Regional Forum is part of a wider effort to pursue and deepen UNESCO's long-standing mandate to further dialogue among cultures and civilizations and to do so in concrete terms, highlighting obstacles to, and benefits from, such dialogue.  The event will also serve to implement the Global Agenda on Dialogue among Civilizations and its programme of action, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly by resolution 56/6 on 8 November 2001.

The Regional Forum on Dialogue among Civilizations was an opportunity to strengthen and sustain co-operation in South-East Europe, as envisaged by the resent "High-Level Conference of Ministers on Strengthening Co-operation in South-East Europe", held at UNESCO Headquarters between 4-5 April 2002. That meeting underscored the importance of confidence- and capacity-building in the region through intra-regional dialogue and co-operation and through complementary action at the national level, especially in the domains of education, culture, science and communication and information. 

Proceedings of this Forum will be available in due course.