![]() ![]() ![]() A Spiritual DavosĪlthough Forum 2000 encourages dialogue on wide-ranging economic and political issues, its main emphasis is on building the moral and ethical foundations for the long-term survival of human societies. In October 2011, Forum 2000 held its fifteenth annual conference, organized around the theme of "Democracy and the Rule of Law." Among the participants were Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan, President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia, former president of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo, American economist Joseph Stiglitz, and Japanese scholars Itoh Motoshige (economics) and Fujiwara Kiichi (international politics), both of the University of Tokyo. The Forum 2000 Conference has attracted many distinguished participants, including former US President Bill Clinton, former German President Richard von Weizsäcker, the Dalai Lama, and South African activist Archbishop Desmond Tutu.Īmerican economist Joseph Stiglitz at the Forum 2000 Conference. Through its activities, it seeks to promote democracy in non-democratic countries and to support civil society, human rights, and religious, cultural, and ethnic tolerance in fledgling democracies. The initial impetus was a discussion that took place during the December 1995 conference "The Future of Hope" in Hiroshima, in which Havel and Wiesel agreed on the need for a forum to discuss global issues and the future of humanity.Įstablished as a platform for dialogue among world leaders and thinkers, Forum 2000 aims to identify the key issues facing human societies and to prevent the escalation of conflicts stemming from religious, cultural, or ethnic tensions. (Photo: Forum 2000 Foundation)įorum 2000 was founded in 1997 at the initiative of three men: former Czech President Václav Havel (1936–2011) holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, winner of the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize and author of Night (a first-hand account of life in a Nazi concentration camp) and Sasakawa Yōhei, chairman of the Nippon Foundation. Václav Havel speaking at the opening of Forum 2000 in Prague last October. Today, the Czech capital plays host to the annual Forum 2000 international conference, the most recent of which was held October 9–11, 2011. The city of Prague has played an important role in European history, from the fourteenth century, when it was the capital of the Holy Roman Empire, to recent times, when it became the stage for the Prague Spring (1968) and the Velvet Revolution (1989) uprisings against communism. ![]()
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