The Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute (DOC) – Rhodes Forum 2018 will commence this morning on the Greek island of Rhodes. Over 300 participants, including 40 journalists from around the world, will take part in the event.
The forum kicks off with a welcome address from Vice-Governor of the South Aegean Region Ioannis Flevaris and DOC Research Institute Co-founder and Chairman Dr. Vladimir Yakunin, setting the tone for the event and focusing participants’ minds on the main issues to be covered.
The opening plenary session will be moderated by well-known French author and journalist Renaud Girard, and will include speakers such as Ibrahima Kassory Fofana, Prime Minister of the Republic of Guinea and Joschka Fischer, Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany (1998-2005).
The session will examine how the age of multilateralism impacts international relations, and what role dialogue can play in easing tensions and preventing major conflicts between global powers and civilisations. Into this complex picture, it draws resource disparity and infrastructure challenges, on the one hand, and technological advances on the other.
The afternoon sees high-profile speakers such as Ehud Olmert join the panel on ‘The Middle Eastern Paradigm of Conflict: Only One Solution is Impossible’. This will look at the red lines for interference in MENA states’ internal affairs, the role of external actors, and preventing Islamic extremism.
The parallel round-table ‘From Deadlock to Solutions: Towards a Comprehensive Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian Peace and Security Order’ will seek to establish a consensus on the origins of the current crises and possible paths through today’s disarray on the global stage. Moderated by broadcaster and writer Mary Dejevsky and Peter W. Schulze, Professor, Political Science Department, Georg-August University of Gőttingen, the round table discussion will bring together experts to tackle some of the most difficult issues in contemporary international relations.
The afternoon session continues with a panel on ‘Economic Inequality and Democracy: Are They Compatible?’ Participating high-profile experts include Justin Yifu Lin who is Dean of Institute of New Structural Economics, Dean of Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development and Professor and Honorary Dean of National School of Development at Peking University, Samia Nkrumah who is President of The Kwame Nkrumah Pan-African Centre (KNAC), and James K Galbraith, who holds the Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. Chair in Government/Business Relations at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and a professorship in Government at The University of Texas at Austin.
The parallel session is a round-table examining ‘The Role of Private Sector and Foundations in Promoting Intercultural Dialogue and Multipolarity’. Co-moderated by Jean-Christophe Bas, CEO of DOC Research Institute and Scherto Gill, Executive Secretary and Senior Researcher at The Guerrand-Hermes Foundation, the session aims to identify dialogue-based strategies used by private organisations to deliver successful commercial and humanitarian projects, and discuss how these could be used to guide governments and policy-makers.
The Forum will be broadcast live on the DOC Research Institute’s Facebook page. Find more information about DOC Research Institute on https://doc-research.org.
SOURCE Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute
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