Forum 2000: Bridging Global Gaps Conference held for seventh time

Former Czech president Vaclav Havel is well-known as a champion of human rights, but he hasn't been resting on his laurels since stepping down as president in January. From Wednesday to Friday this week, Mr Havel's Office and the Forum 2000 Foundation are holding a conference at Prague's Municipal House entitled "Bridging Global Gaps". Forum 2000 Foundation's Oldrich Cerny told Dita Asiedu more about the aim of this week's conference:

Forum 2000: Bridging Global Gaps Conference held for seventh time

"The topics discussed at this year's conference are international trade and agriculture, the responsibilities of big corporations, global public goods, and lastly the indebtedness of third world countries. The aim of the conference is to try to search for a minimum of consensus on which to build further dialogue. On one side, there will be the representatives of large supra-national institutions such as the United Nations, the WTO, and some other institutions like the World Bank or the IMF. On the other side there will be those who we like to call the respected critics from the ranks of the civil society."

And who will be coming to Prague to take part in discussion?

"Well, this year we have a number of special guests. European Commission member Franz Fischler, for example, who has agriculture and foreign trade in his portfolio, Madeleine Albright will make a brief appearance at the conference, former president Havel promised he would devote much more time to the conference than last year and we have His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal, former president of South Africa Frederik Willem de Klerk, and others."

...I believe that it was not difficult to get this year's participants to come?

"No it wasn't really very difficult because the Forum 2000 was founded for what was supposed to be a one-time event in 1997 and we are in our seventh year now. So, a tradition has really been established, everybody knows what the Forum 2000 is. It's a place for peaceful dialogue in a civilised environment."

Mr Havel is expected to attend a series of conferences in Prague this week, among them a meeting of representatives of world religions. Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama has been a traditional guest at the Forum 2000 conferences. He reportedly hopes to persuade the former Czech president to form a group of prominent thinkers to lead a quest to stop conflicts escalating into wars.