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Apr 6 08 9:37 PM

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Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner welcomes the election of André Azoulay as first President of the Anna Lindh Foundation

At its meeting in Brussels today, the Board of Governors of the Anna Lindh Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures formally elected André Azoulay as its first President for the period 2008 until 2011.

The Board of Governors, comprising ambassadors and senior officials from all members of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, were unanimous in their choice of M. Azoulay who will take up his new position immediately.

Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighourhood Policy, commented on Azoulay's election: “I am delighted by this news. André Azoulay is not only a personal friend but also a friend of the Mediterranean and a great champion of intercultural dialogue and understanding. He brings immense knowledge, wisdom and experience to this challenging position. I look forward to working with him in our common pursuit in the Euro-Mediterranean region.”

In his address to the Board of Governors, accepting their nomination M. Azoulay said: “I am honoured and delighted by the trust you have put in me with this nomination. The Mediterranean has not undergone a clash of civilisations. If there is a clash, it is a clash of ignorance. The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership is synonymous with an alliance of civilisations. The mission, with which you have entrusted me, as President of the Anna Lindh Foundation, represents, for me, a life long vocation. The Foundation should be at the epicentre of the quest for mutual tolerance and understanding.

The Anna Lindh Foundation is the first common institution jointly established and financed by members of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. The Foundation’s main objective is to bring people and organisations from both shores of the Mediterranean closer to each other. In the promotion of mutual understanding and dialogue it strives to foster tolerance among people by fostering exchanges between members of their diverse civil societies. The Foundation, located in Alexandria, acts as a network of national networks established by Euro-Mediterranean partners.

Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.
Jeremiah 33:3


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#1 [url]

Apr 6 08 9:39 PM



EURO-MEDITERRANEAN FOUNDATION FOR A DIALOGUE OF CULTURES
PREAMBLE
a) The 1995 Barcelona Declaration states the need, in chapter III, to develop a dialogue of
cultures and civilisations within the framework of the Mediterranean societies. The Action Plan
adopted at the Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Foreign Ministers in Valencia, 22-23 April
2002 includes a mandate for the setting up of a Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for a dialogue
of cultures and civilisations.
b) The establishment of this new instrument within the framework of the Barcelona Process is a
priority, for the following reasons:
- in the first place, on account of the need, in this essential sphere, for a dynamic structure,
which should contribute decisively to the development of a true sense of joint ownership of
the Barcelona Process by its members;
- the importance of having an instrument that would disseminate the goals of the Barcelona
Process and its development amongst the European and Mediterranean societies.
Therefore, the implementation of Chapter III of the Barcelona Declaration requires actions
whose objective is to reach the greatest possible number of citizens, while aspiring to
overcome barriers in the way of access to information and to achieve a greater level of
mutual knowledge between them;
- the need to set up an institution that is able to promote the coherent identification and
execution of projects that are relevant to the dialogue of cultures and increased cultural cooperation;
- the need to set up an institution that catalyses and provides an inventory of co-operation
between the existing networks of foundations, NGOs and other institutions of civil society,
whether public or private, national or international, which operate in the Euro-
Mediterranean area.
1. Goals and Objectives
The objectives shall be established as set out in the statute of the Foundation, which will be
proposed to the institutions of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership. The main objectives are:
- to identify, develop and promote areas of cultural convergence between the countries and
peoples of the Mediterranean, with the aim in particular of avoiding stereotypes,
- to hold a close and regular dialogue between cultural circles often kept outside the main
diplomatic and cultural exchanges,
- to serve as a catalyst for promoting exchanges, co-operation and mobility between people at
all levels, targeting in particular the young and activities relevant to young people.

Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.
Jeremiah 33:3


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#2 [url]

Apr 6 08 9:40 PM

The Executive Director
The Board of Governors appoints the Executive Director of the Foundation1 on a proposal
from the European Commission. He/She serves for three years renewable one time.
The Executive Director’s main tasks would include, notably, the following:
-
To head the administrative staff and prepares the meetings.
- To be the permanent link with the network of national networks.
- To represent the Foundation in its external relations.
- To ensure the implementation of the activity programme approved by the Board of
Governors and reports back on progress with it each year.
- To submit a report on the financial management of the Foundation, on the financial
statements of the year past and on the budget for the upcoming year.
- To report to the Board of Governors and through the latter to the Euro-Mediterranean
Ministerial Conference on the Foundation’s overall activity.
- To prepare the Foundation's three-year plan of activities and its draft budget and submit
them to the Board of Governors for adoption.
- To submit an annual progress report to the Board of Governors on the implementation
of the Foundation's three-year activity plan, in order to collect its observations and
receive instructions.

Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.
Jeremiah 33:3


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#3 [url]

Apr 6 08 10:10 PM

He/She serves for three years renewable one time


wonder if that office would say tack on another six months

Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.
Jeremiah 33:3


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#4 [url]

Apr 6 08 10:23 PM

October 1991, Page 22

Maghreb Mirror


Andre Azoulay: Setting Examples for Arab-Jewish Coexistence

By Jamal Amiar
Andre Azoulay left Morocco to start a new life in Paris in 1966. But, as a Jew who grew up in an Arab land, he has never forgotten that coexistence was possible.

He was born half a century ago, in 1941, in the town of Essaouira, 150 miles south of Casablanca on Morocco's Atlantic coast. As an emigrant in the 1960s, he was one of the thousands of Moroccan Jews who left for North America, Europe or Israel.

Despite all the political problems between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East since then, ties between Moroccan Jews and the land of their birth have remained strong. One idea that kept coming back during all these past years of conflict in the Middle East is that if coexistence was possible between Arabs and Jews in Morocco, that should be possible elsewhere in the Middle East. And the more so if hundreds of thousands of Moroccan Jews themselves lived in Israel.


Setting Up "Identiti et Dialogue"
In the fall of 1976, Andre Azoulay took the lead in Paris in organizing Moroccan Jewish friends into a group that became known as "Identity and Dialogue," based upon the Sephardic Jewish history and culture that flourished in Morocco throughout the 500 years that have passed since the expulsion of Muslims and Jews from Spain. "This Sephardic culture has, for a very long time, been neglected, unknown, and ill-known, and also often ill-treated in the Jewish world and in Israel itself, where it has long been considered as a kind of second-rate culture, Azoulay explains.

Identity and Dialogue's first concern, therefore, was to correct such negative images. Fifteen years later, he considers that the goal of recovering Moroccan Jewish identity has largely been met.

"I think that today all over the world, in the Jewish world in Israel, and on the Israeli political scene no one can deny the political, social and cultural reality of Moroccan Judaism," Azoulay explains. "In recovering and defending their identity, Moroccan Jews have become stronger."

Today more than 700,000 Israelis, one out of six of the population, are of Moroccan origin. What few Americans realize, however, is that every year thousands of Moroccan Israelis visit the land of their origin.

Another surprise is that, among Jews from Arab countries, Moroccan Jews are the only ones who have a federation of all the Moroccan Jewish associations around the world.

It was established in 1985 in Montreal, Canada, with leading roles taken by David Amar of Morocco and Rafi Edry of Israel. The following year, then-Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres visited Morocco.

Only 15 years ago, when Identity and Dialogue was set up, recalls Andre Azoulay, "Moroccan Jews living in Israel would change their names to make them more French-sounding than Arab-sounding, and tell their neighbors that they had come from Marseilles or Nice, rather than 'confess' that they came from Casablanca or Marrakesh. " Because that is no longer the case, Azoulay says, his organization is no longer so concerned with the problem of identity.

Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.
Jeremiah 33:3


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#5 [url]

Apr 6 08 10:24 PM

Mr. André Azoulay (Morocco)

Adviser to His Majesty King Mohammed VI of Morocco

Mr. Andre Azoulay has served as Counsellor to His Majesty Mohammed VI King of Morocco since 1991. Born in Essaouira, Morocco in 1941, he was educated in Paris in Economics, International Relations, and Journalism. His professional background includes involvement in regional affairs and banking. Mr. Azoulay is an active participant in Morocco’s financial institutions, including the Board of the Central Bank of Morocco, the Royal Academy of Morocco, and the Royal Academy of Spain for Economy and Finance. Mr. Azoulay has received distinctions including Commander of the Wissam Al Arch (Kingdom of Morocco) and Commander of the Legion d’Honneur (France).

A pluralist who believes in consensus and respect for the other, he is also a Member of the Board and President of the Executive Committee of the Foundation for “The Three Cultures and the Three Religions,” based in Seville, Spain, and is the Founder and Chairman of “Identity and Dialogue,” an association created in 1974 in Paris dedicated to dialogue between Jews and Muslims, Palestinians and Israelis.

Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.
Jeremiah 33:3


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#7 [url]

Apr 6 08 10:27 PM

“In line with the agreements of the Euro-Mediterranean Conferences and Mid Term Meetings of Foreign Ministers in Valencia, 22-23 April 2002, in Crete 26-27 May 2003, in Naples, 2-3 December 2003 (Doc 57/03) and in Dublin, 5-6 May 2004, the EuroMed Foundation (hereinafter referred to as “the FOUNDATION”) will be called the “Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures". The Foundation shall have its headquarters in the Alexandria Library in tandem with the Swedish Institute in Alexandria.”

Objectives and Tasks

1. The Foundation will promote the dialogue between cultures and contribute to the visibility of the Barcelona Process through intellectual, cultural and civil society exchanges. In particular, the Foundation will

promote knowledge, recognition and mutual respect between the cultures, traditions and values which prevail in the partners.

to identify, develop and promote areas of cultural convergence between the Euro-Mediterranean countries and peoples, with the aim in particular of promoting tolerance , cultural understanding and avoiding stereotypes, xenophobia and racism,

encourage initiatives which aim at promoting a dialogue between religions in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

promote the human dimension of the partnership as well as the consolidation of the rule of law and of basic freedoms in accordance with the guidelines of the regional cooperation programme which was also adopted in this field by the Valencia Conference (April 2002).

underline the vital importance of ensuring that all partners encourage the development and deepening of the cultural and human dimension of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership in all its aspects and its various components at bilateral or multilateral level.

2. The Foundation shall perform the following tasks within its areas of activity:

establish and coordinate, in consultation and in cooperation with the competent authorities and organisations of the members of the Euro Mediterranean partnership, the network of national networks referred to in Article XII in order to act as a catalyst to develop the activities of the networks and provide an inventory of co-operation between them.

promote intellectual, cultural and civil society exchanges,

promote a continuous debate using in particular multi-media techniques (television, radio, periodical magazine, Internet) in co-operation with existing media and with the participation of people from both shores including journalists and the young ,

give patronage to important events which promote mutual understanding, co-financed by large media groups and/or festivals and institutions already active in these areas,

promote the activities of the Barcelona Process including by means of the Foundation itself (periodical magazine, Internet site)

Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.
Jeremiah 33:3


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Heart With 2 Wings

Posts: 10,225 News Editor/ Moderator

#9 [url]

Apr 7 08 12:06 AM

"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." ~~John 15:5~~

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