Al-Babtain’s world forum in the Hague begins Thursday

KUWAIT: The World Forum for the Culture of Peace is scheduled to kick off at the Peace Palace in the Hague on Thursday. The event’s organizer, Kuwait’s Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain Cultural Foundation, said in a statement yesterday that the forum’s agenda would be topped with two themes; teaching the culture of peace and protecting the global cultural heritage, in addition to 17 curricula for teaching peace at schools. Maltese President George Vella is scheduled to address the inaugural speech. The opening session is set to include statements by Dutch Foreign Undersecretary Joke Brandt, Erik de Baedts, the General Director of the Carnegie Foundation-Peace Palace, Chairman of AlBabtain Cultural Foundation Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain and Prince Turki Al-Faisal Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia.

The first session will be headed by the former Bosnian president, Haris Siljadzic, Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Yousef AlOthaimeen,

Arab Maghrib Union Secretary-General Taieb Baccouche, Yemeni Foreign Minister Khaled AlYamani, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross Peter Maurer, Chairman of Kuwait Red Crescent Society Dr Hilal Al-Sayer and Palermo Mayor Leoluca Orlando.

The Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah will preside over the second session. It will be addressed by the representative of the Iraqi president, Ali Al-Shukri, Shaikha Mai Bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, President of Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (BACA), Yemeni Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Abdullah Lemles and the Minister of Higher Education in Iraq’s Kurdistan, Dr Yusuf Goran. The third session will be headed by Terje Rod-Larsen, the President of the International Peace Institute. Speakers include the Maltese parliament speaker, Kuwaiti Minister of Education and Higher Education Hamed AlAzmi and other dignitaries. The fourth and closing session will be headed by Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, the incumbent President of the International Court of Justice, and other eminent and leading figures. The forum will be held in partnership with the World Peace Foundation, Leiden University in Holland, the ICRC and the Peace Palace. — KUNA