Former President Schuster at the forum in Baku

On October 10.-11, 2011 Baku International Humanitarian Forum XXI Century: hopes and challenges took place in the capital city of Azerbaijan

Forum was held under the chairmanship of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the President of the Russian Federation Dmitriy Medvedev

One of the attendants of the Forum was former President of the Slovak Republic Rudolf Schuster. In his speech he thanked President of Azerbaijan for the invitation and organization of the forum and expressed his support for organizing the Forum also in the future. He stressed that Slovakia as a member of the European Union and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is involved in programs for intensifying global development and strengthening solidarity with people suffering from hunger, natural disasters or armed conflicts. Slovakia has been engaged in development projects providing humanitarian aid and trilateral and multilateral assistance. That is why it is ready to share its experiences with countries that are in the process of transformation and are not able to cope with the pressure of global changes by themselves.

At the Forum also participated Head of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation Sergey Naryshkin, former presidents of Bulgaria Jelu Jelev and Petar Stoyanov, former president of Turkey Süleyman Demirel, former president of Romania Emil Constantinescu and former president of Estonia Arnold Ruutel. Among the speakers was rector of the Moscow State University Viktor Sadovnichiy, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Mevlut Cavusoglu, President of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan Mahmud Kerimov, Nobel Prize winner in chemistry Ahmed Zewail, Nobel Prize winner in economic sciences James Mirrlees and many other personalities of science and culture from all over the world.

The opening ceremony was held in the Gulustan Palace.
First day of the Forum ended at the reception and concert in the Buta Palace.

On Tuesday October 11, participants discussed following topics at round tables:

Multiculturalism: achievements and problems
Modern technologies that changed the world
Convergence of sciences
Biotechnologies and ethical problems
Humanitarian aspects of economic development models
Social journalism and high technologies
Traditional value systems in postmodern culture

speech of the President of Azerbaijan at the reception in Buta Palace

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