"This and next year, we celebrate two 20th anniversaries linked with the Dialogue of Civilizations.  2001 was declared by the United Nations General Assembly as the ‘Year of Dialogue of Civilizations’ and, in 2002, the CEO of the Russian Railways, Vladimir Jakunin, the Indian industrialist and ‘futurologist’ Jagdish Kapur and the Greek-American Entrepreneur Nicholas Papanikolaou created the ‘World Public Forum – Dialogue of Civilizations’ (WPFDC) and the well-known Rhodes Forum. Many of the IISES team enjoyed close relations with the WPFDC and some were part of the ‘Rhodes Community’.  As for myself, I declared the ‘dialogue of civilizations’, at the beginning of my mandate in 1999, as my priority as Secretary General of the Council of Europe.

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Today, we remain committed to the paradigm of dialogue and to the tradition of WPFDC. We are paying tribute to the founders of WPFDC Vladimir I. Yakunin, the late Jagdish Kapur, Professor Fred Dalmayr and other supporters of the dialogue of civilizations. In line with this deep commitment,  I am happy to announce that I am nominating IISES Scientific Director Vladimir Kulikov as ‘Special Envoy for the Dialogue of Civilizations’. Vladimir was a leading personality for the WPFDC and the Rhodes Forum for over a decade and a half and is familiar with the subject like no other. With his vast experience and unmatched enthusiasm, I am sure he will do great work in the ‘dialogue of civilizations’ to build on our achievements".