The 17th edition of the Rhodes Forum
is coming at a very specific point in time,
this is going to be just a few weeks ahead
of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, which in a way
has been
the turning point of modern history
and where obviously the world has evolved
in a way that was quite unpredictable
and this was meant to be
the overwhelming victory
of the so-called Liberal order.
We live today, thirty years later, in a world
which is obviously very different,
which is very fragmented and that in a way,
requires a very deep
thinking about where
we are heading, where we are coming from
and how to shape a world that would be
sustainable, that would be peaceful
and that would give space
and opportunity to everyone.
So this is what the Rhodes Forum will be
looking at - how to mitigate
the risk of tensions, how to mitigate
the risk of chaos, that
we can eventually envision,
and how to
try to get some positive
recommendation from an economic
perspective, a geopolitical perspective
and a cultural perspective,
because this is what makes, to a certain extent,
Dialogue of Civilisations unique. We don't see
the major
issues of the future of the world only through one perspective.
We consider that we have to
look at the economics, the geopolitics
and the cultural dimension. This is
what makes DOC unique,
what makes the Rhodes Forum unique,
that it is bringing people from all around the world,
from the developed world, the emerging world,
the rising world, in order to
speak altogether in a
non-confrontational spirit,
in a collaborative spirit, in order to shape
together
a possible world that would bring
people altogether in a peaceful way.
