STORY: UNESCO forum on intercultural dialogue, mutual learning held in Paris
SHOOTING TIME: April 15, 2024
DATELINE: April 18, 2024
LENGTH: 00:03:37
LOCATION: Paris
CATEGORY: CULTURE

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the forum
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): SUSAN DENYER, World Heritage Adviser, ICOMOS and Secretary of ICOMOS-UK (the International Council on Monuments and Site, UK)
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): EUAN MACKWAY-JONES, Associate Programme Specialist in the Section for Intercultural Dialogue, UNESCO
4. SOUNDBITE 3 (Chinese): ZHAO SHENGLIANG, Party chief of the Dunhuang Academy

STORYLINE:

An international symposium focusing on intercultural exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations was held Monday in Paris.

At the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters, experts convened to discuss the history of cultural exchange on the Silk Road. They also engaged in mutual learning and contemporary intercultural communication.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): SUSAN DENYER, World Heritage Adviser, ICOMOS and Secretary of ICOMOS-UK (the International Council on Monuments and Site, UK)
"Bringing people together to have a dialogue on how they see culture, extending across boundaries, and not just within boundaries, but bringing people together between countries. So that people from different cultures can understand each other, be tolerant of the differences and celebrate their similarities."

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): EUAN MACKWAY-JONES, Associate Programme Specialist in the Section for Intercultural Dialogue, UNESCO
"So this is certainly something that means that we need intercultural dialogue. And I think it's certainly possible dialogue is a tool for managing these differences in an effective way. We can do this through education, through building the intercultural competence, the skills, the values that sit behind exchange, which is productive and positive, through interaction with culture, to understand history, to understand identity, to understand the common threads in our common history and identity as well. And we can do this through supporting policy, which makes intercultural exchange possible. We can do it also by breaking down the barriers to intercultural dialogue around discrimination, around inequality as well, investing in those things in a really proactive way."

SOUNDBITE 3 (Chinese): ZHAO SHENGLIANG, Party chief of the Dunhuang Academy
"The Silk Road is a testament to cultural integration and exchange instead of cultural conflicts between the East and the West. Based on peaceful coexistence, cultural exchanges can propel the continued development of our civilizations. Intercultural communication along the Silk Road is not only pushing forward the development of Chinese culture; it's a common ground for the cultures of Central Asia, West Asia, and beyond to flourish. Therefore, today, we hope to see more understanding and exchanges among different ethnicities and cultures, ultimately reaching a consensus to promote peace and development for humanity."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Paris.
(XHTV)