BiH official hails Nizami Ganjavi Int'l Center

By Azernews

By Sabina Mammadli

Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Sefik Dzaferovic stated that he considers the Nizami Ganjavi International Center to be an extremely serious and respectable platform for international cooperation.

The remarks were made during his meeting with the co-chairman of the organization, Ismail Serageldin.

During the meeting, the sides highlighted the exceptional civilizational significance of multiculturalism, with special emphasis on the centuries-old experience of coexistence of different cultures and traditions in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Dzaferovic said that Bosnia and Herzegovina, although not a large country in terms of territory and population, is one of the most important countries in the world, due to its multiethnic and multicultural paradigm.

In turn, Serageldin, who served as vice president of the World Bank and director of the Library of Alexandria, stressed the great importance of Bosnia and Herzegovina's experience in the recent past and said that the war the country went through and the genocide committed, as well as the huge progress in BiH's reconstruction made in the post-war period, should be something from which the whole world will draw lessons from.

The meeting was also attended by the President of the Society of Common Values Foundation and a member of the International Center "Nizami Ganjavi" Zlatko Lagumdzija.

The Nizami Ganjavi International Center was established at a special meeting held in Nizami Ganjavi's hometown of Ganja as part of the 870th anniversary of the birth of the great Azerbaijani poet on 30 September 2012.

Continuing its activities with the Azerbaijani president's support, this international non-governmental organization brings together former heads of state and government, foreign ministers, and prominent international scholars from more than 50 foreign countries.

The main governing body is the Board of Trustees, which consists of influential public and political figures from around the world. The board includes 18 former leaders. The center also includes 53 prominent members from 25 countries in Europe, six from three countries in the Americas, 15 from 12 countries in Asia, and five from four countries in Africa.

The co-chairs of the Center are the former President of the Republic of Latvia (1999–2007), Vaira Vike-Freiberga, and the former Vice-President of the World Bank (1992–2000), Dr. Ismail Serageldin.