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

Dear colleagues, dear guests and dear friends,
In a few moments the 6^th Eurasian Media Forum will start off and as usual will last three days. Hopefully these days will leave you with good and lasting memories of your time in Kazakhstan. We, as the organizers of the Forum, thank you for joining us here and assure you that we shall try our best to make this a positive and useful experience for all of you. Therefore now we would like to welcome you cordially to Almaty!
So three days. During such a brief period we are supposed to “browse” through the critical events of the past year, events that may not fill us with optimism.. The news from virtually all the international news agencies is about military conflicts, more and more people worldwide becoming victims of terrorists. The world is still divided into Christian and Muslim parts.
Does that mean that the bad times are back, and the world, like the Titanic, is moving again towards inevitable disaster?
Five years ago we assumed that the values that were cherished after the Second World War were being cast into doubt. These days there are grounds for fearing the imminent and catastrophic collapse of those values
This is because war is again becoming the main way to resolve the current contradictions.
A short military conflict between Israel and Lebanon was regarded worldwide not only as an example of mutual exasperation but also as a worrying example of military rhetoric.
This is the reason, when we were putting together the agenda of the 6^th Eurasian Media Forum, that we found it necessary to focus on this alarming issue of the increasing dehumanisation of global politics.
It is obvious that colossal efforts are being made to fight against the so-called wave of international terror which has become an immense challenge not only to human morality but also to international law. And the end does not only fail to satisfy the means but it is becoming even harder to justify it as a result of such efforts.
That was confirmed by the outcome of the military campaign in Afghanistan. And, of course, above all it is about the war in Iraq. And the execution of Saddam Hussein that took place right after the Christian Christmas and on the day of the great Muslim holiday of Ramadan. An execution that was covered by many TV channels almost live and that intensified the religious war in Iraq.
How efficient is this tendency, this policy of trying to improve the world through brute force and military intervention? The intellectual leaders of these days, some of whom I am glad to see at the Forum, are trying to find an answer to this question.
Proliferation of nuclear technology - this is definitely another alarming factor in the world today. It may provoke a new wave of the arms race, which means bringing the world closer to global catastrophe. This topic also needs to be carefully assessed from the political, legal, moral and ethical points of view.
Eurasia is a term, a concept, which includes young states trying to leave their communist past behind. It is not easy for them, such a move is in many ways unpredictable, and strange “road maps” borrowed with the best intentions still cannot save us from the political reefs and hidden rocks.
Journalism, the practice of journalism,has always been in the focus of our attention, and this Forum is no exception. Important issues such as the legal regulation of the media and a clear trend towards the so-called glamorisation of young journalism will be discussed in a lively and, I am confident, useful manner.
Dear guests and friends,
There is an ancient and very nice tradition in the East: the most respected, wisest people are asked to give their blessing to a child who is just learning to walk by cutting the symbolic ties on his legs, which defines his destiny.
Opening the 6^th Eurasian Media Forum today I would like to express my sincere gratitude to President Khatami, whom I am happy to see again in this hall, and President Nazarbayev, who will be here in a minute. They have cut our forum from its ties and gave their blessing to it 5 years ago. And this blessing turned out to be extremely productive.
Distinguished guests, dear colleagues, friends,
Opening the 6^th Eurasian Media Forum I express my firm confidence that the time we are going to spend here together will be very useful. We will probably be unable to give clear answers to the questions that concern us. But we will still be able to take another step towards finding the truth by making friendly joint efforts.
Welcome to the heart of Eurasia!