00:00The advantage or the difference of the people of Azerbaijan has always been that
00:04they were breaking the stereotypes. So the first opera in the Muslim world was written here by
00:12Azerbaijani. Building bridges through culture and dialogue, an opportunity to gather leaders and
00:22representatives from across the world with the intention of understanding divisions and finding
00:27common ground. The geographic position of Azerbaijan which is situated as we always say in the
00:33crossroads of east and west and north and east has been influenced by different cultures, different
00:39traditions and even the religious and the faith. So in terms of professional cultural things,
00:46Azerbaijan has been pioneering a lot of things in the cultural history especially in terms of the
00:51oriental east. At a time when conflicts and political tensions are deepening divisions the
00:57seventh world forum in intercultural dialogue in Baku offered a platform where people from
01:02different backgrounds were able to listen to each other through the arts. Art is the language of the
01:09heart and the soul and it cannot be used to create harm because art never does harm. The exact opposite
01:19of harm is art and what we do today is a lot of harm and very little of art. We
01:26need a lot more language
01:27of art. Understanding secularism and sharing faith practices is also considered at the forum as religious
01:35leaders came together to find commonalities and ways to move forward in a world where conflict has become
01:40a concern. And as we gain an understanding of being children of God then all of a sudden our peripheral
01:47vision
01:50widens and we see everyone around us as brothers and sisters. There's a common thread that is woven
01:58through all of us that common thread of being brothers and sisters of humankind. I think all religions
02:07and cultures should defend one thing that is common to all of us. Peace. Peace and human dignity. The
02:15understanding among people is the only way to prevent conflict and raise tensions and combat head speech.
02:21While Azerbaijan was host to the event it also provided an open platform for connections to be made as well
02:27as
02:28personal encounters. When we're coming to this type of forum we meet people from different horizons with
02:34different backgrounds with different culture right so it's just by one conversation that you can learn
02:39from others. The seventh world forum on intercultural dialogue created an environment for people to see
02:45beyond conflicts and encourage resolutions and this year participants reflected the importance of arts and
02:51culture to not only build bridges but also to find ways to avoid breaking them.
