The event, sponsored by UNESCO and the Council of Europe, brought together the presidents of ten countries in Southeast Europe, including Croatian President Stjepan Mesic, and about a hundred representatives of international organisations.
Bulgarian President Georgi Prvanov said in his opening remarks that the third forum showed that "this region can act and think together, but also with European partners."
"Eastern Europe is not the outskirts of Europe or its yard. The enlarged Europe has its deep historical reasons. Participants in the forum will show that they deserve to join Europe," Prvanov said.
Addressing the forum, Mesic welcomed this initiative, saying that he was confident that "we have been brought together here by the idea of cooperation, respect and understanding."
Mesic said that the project was very important because "previous conflicts in the region were conflicts of politics rather than of cultures."
The Croatian president particularly highlighted the importance of minority cultures and minority identity, because "there is no majority nation in the united Europe."
Mesic also said that cultural heritage should be used as a source of the economic development of Southeast Europe and that countries in the region should broaden their cooperation to include scientific projects. He proposed that the next forum be held in Croatia.
UNESCO Director-General Koichira Matsuura said that the forum was a starting point for renewed dialogue among countries in the region.
The leaders of the countries present here are ready not only to express support and cooperate in the area of culture, but also to sign a document that puts culture at the very heart of cooperation, Matsuura said. He said that culture played a pivotal role in international relations.
The Council of Europe Director-General, Terry Davis, described the forum as a form of support to multicultural dialogue.
The forum will close on Saturday with the adoption of a declaration containing guidelines for the identification, preservation, sustainable use and promotion of cultural corridors in Southeast Europe.