Secretary General of the Turkic Council Ambassador Ramil Hasanov attended the opening ceremony of the 4th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue held on 5 May 2017 in Baku.

The title of the forum hosted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Azerbaijan in cooperation with Council of Europe, UNAOC, UN World Tourism Organization, UNESCO, FAO and ISESCO is "Advancing Intercultural Dialogue: New Avenues for Human Security, Peace and Sustainable Development".

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan H. E. Ilham Aliyev addressed the audience consisting of 800 high level participants including heads of 50 international delegations.

Reminding the values of Baku Process initiated in 2008, he emphasized that Azerbaijan fully respects the multi-culturalism, which is the panacea to today's global challenges.

Following H. E. Aliyev, Director General of UNESCO Ms. Irina Bokova, UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, Secretary General of UN World Tourism Organization Mr. Taleb Rifai, Secretary General of OIC Mr. Yousef bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen took the floor and expressed their thoughts on the topic of the forum. They all touched upon on the importance of respecting multi-culturalism and ensuring dialogue to embrace a better world.

After these opening speeches, Director General of ISESCO Mr. Abdulaziz Ottoman Altwaijri and Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe Ms. Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni addressed the Forum while Director of FAO Mr. Jose Graziano da Silva conveyed his message to this global event.

On the margins of the Forum, Secretary General Hasanov had bilateral meetings with the head of several international organizations such as UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations Mr. Al-Nasser, Deputy Secretary General of NATO Ambassador Tacan İldem, Director General of IRCICA Mr. Halit Eren and Secretary General of UN World Tourism Organization Mr. Taleb Rifai.

Ambassador Hasanov also attended the first plenary session of the Forum that was firstly addressed by Foreign Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr. Elmar Mammadyarov. Foreign Minister Mammadyarov expressed the importance to empower the youth and to focus on education and the means of sports to counter and prevent violent extremism. Thus, these themes were discussed at length during the international conference co-hosted by the Turkic Council and UNAOC in October 2016 in Istanbul.

Project Director Pelin Musabay Baki, Chief of Protocol Emre Yurdakul and Deputy Director of Finance and Administration Araz Salmanov accompany Secretary General Hasanov at the Forum.