The 2nd edition of the Anna Lindh Forum, that will take place between the 4th and the 7th of April 2013, will represent the largest civil society gathering since the Arab uprisings, with over 1000 people expected to come to Marseille to share a road map for the promotion of intercultural dialogue and citizenship in the Euro-Mediterranean region.
Marseille, 30 May 2012: The President of the Anna Lindh Foundation, André Azoulay, signed today a Memoradum of Understanding with Jean-François Chougnet, Director General of Marseille-Provence 2013, the body in charge of the European Capital of Culture 2013, at the Chamber of Commerce of the city, at the presence of its Vice-president Joseph Perez.
The Forum received the support of the City Council, the Region Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur and the Department of the Bouches-du-Rhône. In this regard the ALF delegation held meetings with representatives of the three local institutions supporting the event, including the President of the Region, Michel Vauzelle and the President of the Department, Jean Noel Guerini. Azoulay was accompanied by Ambassador Serge Telle, in charge of the Union for the Mediterranean at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and by the ALF Executive Director, Andreu Claret.
President Azoulay, during the signing ceremony, commented that: “the Anna Lindh Forum will contribute to the European Cultural year bringing to Marseille a Mediterranaean and civil sociey dimension“. “The Forum”, said Azoulay, “will be a civil society major gathering for facing the challenges of dialogue, cooperation and citizenship in the Euro-Mediterranean Region“.
In addition, President Azoulay delivered a welcome speech at the meeting of the French National Network of the Anna Lindh Foundation. The members of the network were asked to take an active role in the preparation of the Forum, that will represent a central moment in the life of the Anna Lindh Foundation.
The previous Forum was held in Barcelona in March 2010 and represented the first civil society gathering of this kind in the EuroMed region. The conclusions of the Barcelona Forum contributed to the development of the new triennial programme of the Anna Lindh Foundation (2012-2014), that focus on the promotion of intercultural dialogue in the Euro-Mediterranean region through a ‘4D’ strategy combining intercultural dialogue, diversity, democracy and development.
For editors
The Anna Lindh Foundation is an organisation shared and resourced by the forty-three countries of the Union for the Mediterranean with the mandate to bring people together for dialogue between cultures. With its headquarters in Alexandria, the Anna Lindh Foundation runs a EuroMed network of around 4000 civil society organisations with the aim of facilitating their collaborations and common actions.
For more information:
Paul Walton: paul.walton@bibalex.org
Ouarda Lebnane: ouarda.lebnane@bibalex.org
