Speech by Chair of the Eurasian Media Forum Organizing Committee Dariga Nazarbayeva

Dear colleagues, dear guests and friends,

I am opening the Eurasian Media Forum for the seventh time by saying these simple words, coming from the bottom of my heart: welcome to Almaty!

The start of the Eurasian Media Forum is as inevitable as the sunshine in April, wakening the Earth, when it is notg just a calendar date but the real onset of spring.

Although spring is the spring, sometimes it is capricious. A week ago it snowed in Almaty, and we as the organisers of the forum did not want our city to greet its visitors in such cold and unfriendly fashion at the end of April.

And fortunately, we shouldn’t have feared – spring has finally come. And so there is a verty good reason for congratulating each other on both the fact spring that has come and the start of the 7th Eurasian Media Forum.

I would like to express gratitude to the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, for the attention he paid to our Forum and for his address to the delegates. On behalf of the delegates and the guests of the Eurasian Media Forum, I thank you, Mr. President!

We are also grateful to the President of the 62nd Session of the UN General Assembly for his heartfelt statements and wishes to the Forum!

We are pleased to welcome the honourable guest of our Forum, the outstanding political analyst of the 20th century Mr. Zbigniew Brzezinski!

Let me also thank all statesmen and public figures who have sent their greetings to the Forum – thank you very much for your support!

When I look at the audience here, I see many, very many familiar faces. By the way, our statistics show that around one third of the delegates and of the guests of the Forum are visiting us in Almaty not for the first time.

This means that there is now a large sustainable community of authoritative politicians, journalists and experts from all parts of the world grouped around the Eurasian Media Forum. On the one hand, they share our views of the modern world development and the role of the media in it. On the other hand, they have become great and true friends of Kazakhstan. Thank you for that. We greatly appreciate your support and your friendship.

This time as usual, the Eurasian Media Forum is focused on the key events happening worldwide and on the way they are covered in global media.

Unfortunately, the world is not becoming calmer.

The idea of the monocentric domination of one power has appeared unviable. We see new centres of political, economic and cultural forces emerging these days. We see the new architecture of international relations emerging. Fundamental polycentrism is their key feature.

Some don’t like that, and the media started reporting a potential “new cold war”. Thank God, this is still a euphemism, but the trend is apparent and disturbing for it is not a secret that many both in the West and the East still behave as if the “cold war” is not over yet.

Then there is the precedent of Kosovo. This appears to be the most critical and sensitive challenge the world is currently facing. Many believe that it questions the whole modern global order and relationships between nations.

You may keep telling yourself that it is not a precedent and that the situation with Kosovo is not typical but unique, but a Pandora’s Box is open now and we have to understand it very well. Now we have to state with regret there was the world before Kosovo and now there is the world after Kosovo. We are going to discuss that at the Forum.

Actually there are several precedents of this kind now at the beginning of the 21st century. September 11. War in Iraq. And there is not so much cheerful news…

In addition, we are facing global economic challenges. The world food crisis and the related unprecedented rise in prices of food makes us take a different look at both the role and place of international economic organisations and the humanitarian component in international relations. Hunger, threatening developing countries, is a common challenge for the whole of mankind.

We felt happy and hopeful about the era of political renovations. However, time passed and we cannot disregard the fact that the “gold standard” of democracy and elections is leading some countries to tragic events and social complexities. Therefore we set aside some time for discussion of this topic.

It was long believed that the proximity of cultures, languages and religions in the territory of one country works in its favour, that it is an unquestionably positive factor, but what then causes the intolerance, even explicit hostility that we now see even in developed countries with an established political culture?

Positive examples of harmonious communications between different cultures, religions and historical traditions have never been as relevant as they are today.

I think that it is not accidental that our Media Forum is held here in Kazakhstan, which is one of the significant historical centres of the Eurasian dialogue. I believe it makes both symbolic and practical sense for our Forum is now one of arenas where people from all the continents meet and discuss common issues and search for solutions and compromises.

We all want to understand the values that underpin the world today, for without understanding there is no goodwill and grace, which in turn means that there is no room for love and compassion.

This time the Forum has become a more concentrated event – the experience we gained in holding the past six conferences has made it possible to optimise our work in a new and shorter format. Despite this, I believe that the agenda has benefited by being even more relevant and interesting.

I am inviting all the delegates to the Media Forum to take part in honest and frank discussion. I think that we will spend the following two days in a fruitful, friendly and proactive atmosphere.

I’ve tried to make the key points.

However, the most important thing is still that spring has come to the planet, April is blossoming, and we are together again!

So the 7th Eurasian Media Forum is now formally declared open!