(1888PressRelease)
June 26, 2008 - CM, Berlin - Subsequent to the Beijing Olympic Games the non-profit Society for Intercultural Dialogue based in Berlin (cm-germany.org) will organise an interdisciplinary encounter between European and Asian businessmen and scientists. For reasons concerning public security, on short notice, the Chinese authorities have decided to ban all events which should have taken place during the Olympic Games. The four day-symposium in the European Year for Intercultural Dialogue, which will now take place in September, deals with shifts in values and sustainability.
Participants comprise some of the most important business representatives of transport, energy, telecommunications and other economic branches from both China and Europe. Scientists from Europe, the USA and China also view this question as a chance and challenge to further the dialogue between East and West. Wolfgang Sachs, a researcher at the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy has claimed the topic of the symposium as being of “dramatic relevance”. Sachs received a Nobel Certificat for his contribution to the award of the Noble Peace Prize for 2007 to the IPCC together with former US vice president Al Gore.
The Berlin Society wants to create a platform promoting dialogue among different political, religious and ethnic groups, beyond the political arena and independent from political and economic interests. Under the name “Civilisations Matter”, stressing the need for an interdisciplinary as well as cultural debate, the Society will provide a space where business managers, scientists, politicians, journalists and artists can meet. These interdisciplinary activities will be an "urgently needed contribution to peace maintenance among cultures", said one of the society’s curators, Peter Ruof, business manager, co-founder of the Carl Duisburg Society in Washington.
The purpose of this non-commercial incorporation is the facilitation of science and research, as well as art, culture and international understanding. The Society (Academy) will organise symposia, conferences, workshops, conventions and cultural events. It goes out to host meetings where scientists as well as philosophers, artists and politicians representatives of various cultures and religious denominations -may shape ideas about global and future-oriented thinking.
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