AKDN Becomes The Partner of the Paris Peace Forum
His Highness Aga Khan IV, Founder and Chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), today attended the opening session of the second Peace Forum in Paris with more than 30 world leaders. At the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron, the forum was established on the premise that international cooperation is essential to tackling global challenges and ensuring lasting peace. The forum was created on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the ceasefire on the occasion of the end of the First World War.
“In my experience, the emphasis on local participation, the promotion of pluralism and the strengthening of civil society organizations are key to stability in today’s world, and pluralism is certainly a key element for peace and progress,” stated by H.H. Aga Khan IV.
Last night, Aga Khan IV met with heads of state and government for a dinner on the forum organized by President Macron at the Elysee Palace.
The necessity of pluralism as the fundamental value of society has often been described by Aga Khan as an “indispensable foundation of human peace and progress“. Since human society is essentially pluralist, he believes that the diversity of people’s contributions to civilization through time and culture is crucial to promoting respect and understanding.
The promotion of pluralism was therefore a goal of many AKDN programs. These include rural economic development and irrigation systems that bring together various communities in Pakistan to improve their quality of life. including reading programs for children in Kenya; an integration project for immigrants in Lisbon; and the recent Aga Khan Music Awards, which illustrate cultural pluralism in the Muslim world, as music, According to Aga Khan IV, “can transcend ancient temporal and geographic boundaries.“
In recognition of Aga Khan’s commitment to pluralism, which is essential for stable and peaceful societies, he founded the Global Center for Pluralism in Ottawa, in collaboration with the Government of Canada, to promote research. , Education and knowledge sharing on this topic.
Meredith Preston McGhie, General Secretary of the Global Center for Pluralism, gave an opening speech at a side event titled “How can pluralism strengthen peace, lessons learned from the GCP 2019 winners,” highlighting the urgent need for pluralism in peacebuilding efforts becomes. She then led the discussion between two winners of the 2019 Global Pluralism Award: Aung Kyaw Moe, executive director of the Center for Social Integrity; and Bojana Dujković-Blagojević from Learning History, which is not yet a network for history.
During the day, Onno Ruhl, executive director of the Aga Khan IV Habitat Agency, participated in a panel entitled “Surviving Climate Wrath: Building Resistant Infrastructure in the Age of Global Warming“. The panel considered the coalition for a fail-safe infrastructure. Selecting stakeholders to identify specific areas where international cooperation and exchange can promote disaster-resilient and climate-resilient infrastructure.
Source: AKDN.org