SE EUROPE'S HEADS OF STATE CALL FOR TOLERANCE, DIALOGUE

OHRID, Aug 30 (Hina) - Participants in a UNESCO forum on dialogue among civilisations in Macedonia's Ohrid adopted a final declaration on Saturday in which they state their commitment to the culture of dialogue, tolerance and peace in view of achieving progress, prosperity and cooperation among the peoples and countries of Southeast Europe. #L# The cradle of European culture and civilisation, a scene of wars, destruction and ethnic cleansing only a decade ago, is entering a new stage in which dialogue, understanding and reconciliation will rule, reads the declaration. It concludes by saying that reconciliation is the route to a joint future. Dialogue must become the new chorus that will echo around the region and the world, it reads. The declaration advocates so-called quality education which requires a revision of school books and programmes, and calls for making cultural heritage become a factor of unification and reconciliation among the peoples of the region. The Ohrid forum welcomed Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski's offer to host a conference of education and science ministers in mid-2004, as well as Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov's Cultural Routes in Southeast Europe project and conference of the region's culture ministers in 2004. The declaration endorses Bosnian Presidency chairman Dragan Covic's proposal to have the region's heads of state attend next year's opening of Mostar's rebuilt medieval bridge. The routes of communication must remain open and elastic so as to bolster understanding and cooperation among peoples, the declaration says, calling on the media to play a key role in helping break down barriers in people's minds. (hina) ha