Jean Asselborn, Discours à l'occasion du forum des partenaires de l'Alliance des civilisations, Istanbul

Let me first thank our host, H.E. the Prime Minister of Turkey, Mr. Erdogan, as well as Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for co-chairing this first ever Partners Forum for the Alliance of Civilizations here in the beautiful city of Istanbul, at the crossroads of so many influential civilizations. Globalization, together with the economic crisis and its worldwide consequences as well as the political change happening in some parts of the world may have a negative impact on the global conversation that we try to promote. Divided societies, fear of the other, intolerance and xenophobia seem to be rising. That is why it is indispensable that we work hard to counter these phenomena.

Recent events in the Eastern Mediterranean offer a dramatic illustration of the need to spare no effort in order to foster dialogue. We, as Alliance, must help ensure that the peoples’ longing for freedom, dignity, democracy and social justice is met through inclusive and interactive political processes instead of brutal repression. As stated in the Alliance’s Implementation Plan, the mission of the Alliance is more valid and opportune than ever. The initiative to gather the friends of the Alliance around the objectives of strengthening its financial basis by ensuring a better predictability and diversifying the range of donors as well as improving its governance structure, is thus very timely.

Since its inception in 2005, and under the dynamic leadership of President Sampaio, the Alliance has indeed accomplished a lot in its four areas of activity. In order to pursue this important work of mobilizing political actors as well as civil society and also private partners all over the world to improve cross-cultural understanding, it needs a more sustained financial grounding as well as a reinforced governance structure.

Luxembourg has been a strong supporter of the AOC since the beginning. I personally took part in all annual meetings of the Global Forum and in the Group of Friends meetings held in the margins of the ministerial week of the Un General Assembly in New York. I look forward to the Vienna Forum in

February next year. My Government has organized, together with the Council of Europe last November, the “2011 exchange on the religious dimension of the intercultural dialogue�?. This exchange was extremely fruitful. It brought together representatives of the main religious communities, the media and representatives of non religious organizations to discuss the role of the media in fostering intercultural dialogue, tolerance and mutual understanding. Such events help building bridges and overcome divides. In sync with its political commitment to the Alliance, Luxembourg has made financial contributions to the AOC on a regular basis, with yearly contributions of 50.000 Euros. If you allow me to use this opportunity to anticipate on the pledging part of this meeting, let me state Luxembourg’s intention to pursue this financial effort and we will contribute 50.000 Euros in 2012 and 75.000 Euros in 2013 to the UNAOC Trust Fund.

If the UNAOC succeeds to become part of the list of ODA-eligible organizations established by the OECD, which I sincerely hope, we would also be happy to look into the possibility of substantially funding a number of specific developmentally focused activities of the Alliance. As some of you may know, Luxembourg has a very active development cooperation policy and is one of the very few countries in the world that invest more than 1% of their Gross National Income in official development assistance (ODA). We are determined to maintain this effort, especially in these times of crisis.

I do welcome the newly proposed governance structure which should allow all the stakeholders involved within the Alliance to take a greater ownership and allow the now quite diversified categories of supporters and donors, to make their respective inputs but also to receive an appropriate feedback. Let me conclude by assuring you of Luxembourg’s unwavering support to the objectives and activities of the Alliance of Civilizations. These objectives and activities are more relevant today than ever before, at a time of great promise and equally great challenge to the dialogue among civilizations.

Thank you for your attention.