On October 8th and 9th, the Swedish Dialogue Institute for the Middle East and North Africa hosted a roundtable dialogue meeting on intercultural dialogue. The participants came from Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, and Sweden, and collectively gathered a broad expertise from academia, civil society, diplomacy, and international organisations.
The purpose of the meeting was to facilitate exchanges between senior experts from the region and Europe, with an aim to explore how moderate forces can be strengthened and how they can contribute to reducing tensions and to enriching ongoing efforts to enhance intercultural dialogue and mutual respect between the MENA region and Europe. The meeting was also intended to contribute concrete ideas and recommendations on how the Dialogue Institute can further work with these issues, in the short as well as long term.
The participants reflected on current main challenges, as well as on possibilities to enrich intercultural dialogues and exchanges, across the Mediterranean. In addition to being aware of the challenges, the group talked about exploring possible positive trends and to take stock of best practices. The importance of promoting enhanced understanding, mutual respect, and intercultural exchanges, within a variety of sectors, was highlighted.
Moreover, participants underscored the importance of continuing ongoing dialogues on a broad range of issues, where Sweden and the Dialogue Institute have built networks, credibility, and trust over time, e.g., on environment, climate change, intergenerational dialogue and on the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS), and the Youth, Peace, and Security (YPS) agendas. They also emphasised that dialogue between peoples and cultures is a process that requires time and sustained commitment, acknowledging that substantive change and mutual understanding cannot be achieved in a short time frame.
