Cairo 14 – 18 October 2019
As an member of Oikosnet Europe we are delighted to invite you to participate in the upcoming Arab-Europe Citizens’ Dialogue Conference under the theme: Peaceful Coexistence – How can people of different faiths live peacefully together?
The primary objective of the Arab-European dialogue in the coming year is creating spaces for understanding and implementing changes to increase human rights in both regions. This focus stems from the Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services (CEOSS) Forum strategy, which emphasis on coexistence, pluralism and inclusion – not exclusion methodologies in the religious context. The other objective is the interactions between religion, civil society, and politics; integration and participation of refugees; and production of media and images — which follow from an increased focus on human rights. By making human rights the focus of our efforts, the Forum for Intercultural Dialogue aims to bring this ever-important principle to the forefront.
The Arab-Europe Citizens’ Dialogue
The Arab-European Citizens’ Dialogue was established in 2010 at the Orthodox Academy of Crete (OAC) as an expansion of a previous Egyptian-German dialogue. The main counterparts are the Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services (CEOSS) in Cairo, Egypt, and Oikosnet Europe, an association of faith-based educational and dialogue institutions in Europe with its office at the Sigtuna Foundation, Sweden. From 2010, there has been a series of consultations in Europe and in the Arab region. The last conference, the 6th from the initiation of this dialogue, was held at the Sigtuna Foundation, Sweden, 1-4 May 2018. We are already also planning for an event in 2020 taking place at OAC. The 2019 event of this initiative, announced in this pre-invitation, will be the 7th Dialogue
Conference, and it will be hosted by CEOSS, in Cairo, Egypt.
Dates and Times
Participants are welcome to arrive during Monday 14 October, and the first thing in the conference agenda will be a Welcome Reception on Monday evening. The formal program will start in the morning of Tuesday 15 October, and the program will end by lunchtime Thursday 17 October. There will be an optional excursion on Thursday afternoon. More information about the conference and a more detailed program will be distributed later.
Registration and Costs
This is a pre-invitation, and a proper invitation with more details on registration and costs will follow. Here, we only want to indicate the conditions for participation.
• The cost for participation, after subsidies by the conference organizers, will be app: USD 260.
• On both the Arab side and the European side, there are furthermore some possibilities for subsidies regarding travel and participation. This is handled separately by the two regions. For questions about financial support, you can contact the following persons respectively:
Arab region: Samira Luka samira.luka@ceoss.org.eg
European region: Karin Sallander karin.sallander@sigtunastiftelsen.se
Conference Organizers
The Arab-Europe Citizens’ Dialogue Conference on Peaceful Coexistence is organized jointly by the Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services (CEOSS), Oikosnet Europe, and the Sigtuna Foundation.
Feel free to contact any of the following persons if you have general questions about theconference and/or about the conference organizers:
Arab region: Samira Luka samira.luka@ceoss.org.eg
European region: Alf Linderman alf.linderman@sigtunastiftelsen.se