Preparations for UNAOC 7th Global Forum in Baku in full swing: UNAOC delegation visits Baku and holds a series of meetings with the National Organizing Committee and Azeri officials

New York, 2 March 2016. With the 7th UNAOC Global Forum round the corner on April 25-27, 2016, a UNAOC delegation travelled to Azerbaijan to meet and liaise with Azerbaijani officials, and members of the National Organizing Committee as well as other relevant national stakeholders to the Forum.

The discussions focused on various content-related and logistical aspects of the Forum.

Mr. Abulfaz Garayev, Minister of Culture and Tourism and Chair of the National Organizing Committee of the Forum received the UNAOC delegation twice stressing his confidence in the ability of the two teams to render the 7th Global Forum successful.

UNAOC Delegation was composed of Ms. Nihal Saad, Chief of Cabinet and Spokesperson for the High Representative; Ms. Hanifa Mezoui, Senior Advisor to the High Representative; Ms. Anna Pavlyuchenko, Member States and Donor Liaison Officer; Mr. Alessandro Girola, Programming Coordinator; Mr. Nagy Nasr, Special Events Coordinator at the UN; Mr. Andreas Damianou, Chief UN Web TV; as well as team members working on the logistics, content, and communications of the Forum.

The visit also provided the opportunity to present the Forum to a broader scope of people. In a lecture at Baku State University, Ms. Saad said: “The current global conditions of increasing violent extremism, mass migration and an all-too-often biased depiction of migrants in the media require us as a world community to do our best to facilitate inclusive, peaceful, and just societies. This year’s Global Forum will provide the opportunity to discuss how to live together in inclusive societies and therewith provide a platform for its global participants to engage for and discuss potential solutions.” Ms. Saad also elaborated on the Forum and the work of UNAOC to students and staff members at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy (ADA University).

In the widely viewed TV show “Pulse of Time”, Ms. Saad and Mr. Vasif Eyvazzade, Secretary of the National Organizing Committee, talked about the on-going preparations for the Forum and the host country preparedness.

“Over the course of one week, we held a number of fruitful and productive meetings with officials and members of the National Organizing Committee for the Global Forum in Azerbaijan. After having closely cooperated for a few months already, these face-to-face meetings helped us to further advance our preparations and collaboration for the Global Forum in April in Baku,” concluded Ms. Saad.

“Living Together In Inclusive Societies: A Challenge and A Goal,” will be the theme of the 7th Global Forum of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), to be held April 25-27, 2016 in Baku, Azerbaijan. By stressing the “inclusive” aspect of “living together,” the UNAOC 7th Global Forum will harness the multiple perspectives of around 3,000 state and non-state actors to meet the challenge of, and progress towards, inclusive living in today’s increasingly diverse societies.