UNITED NATIONS, New York Iran's permanent representative to the United Nations Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian underlined the importance of dialogue among civilizations as a new idea for the establishment of peace, security and prosperity in the contemporary world.

Nejad-Hosseinian made the remark while addressing the inaugural session of the International Conference on Dialogue Among Civilizations and the role of family; common human values and international peace, which opened here Friday morning.

Some 1,200 present and former leaders and authorities of 150 world leaders attended the conference in which they underscored the role that civilization dialogue can play in forging international peace and security.

Stressing the need for further consolidation of the pillars of the family institution as one of the most important common human values, the Iranian envoy said today the human family share a unified fate.

He further remarked that qualitative progress and development in various domains of the civilization dialogue demands pioneering of representatives of the civil society who should make their officials cognizant of the fact that peace, security and prosperity cannot be divided in the contemporary world.

Nejad-Hosseinian said that assigning 2001 as the Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations and holding various conferences and gatherings in this connection all prove that the proposal initiated by President Mohammad Khatami provided a good opportunity for the application of a new method of reviewing one's individual performance and his mutual affiliation as member of the human communities.

The two-day conference on dialogue among civilizations was organized by the international inter-religious and world peace federation.

Former Polish president Lech Walesa, president of the Comoros Assoumani Azzali, former U.S. vice president Dan Quayle and Sun Myung Moon, founder of the world culture and sports festivals were among the participants.

Appreciating President Khatami for his idea of dialogue among civilizations, Azzali and Indonesian envoy to the UN Makarim Wibisono stressed that in circumstances under which the contemporary world is suffering from genocide and ethnic conflicts, such a proposal can resolve human problems and lead humanity toward mutual understanding.

The next speaker of the conference, Lech Walesa, said in the present era of globalization, competition for the survival of the fittest has overshadowed all human activities.

He stressed that efforts should be made to institutionalize values of the international human community in a way that it would guarantee respect for culture and family.

Also addressing the gathering, Quayle who served as vice president in the administration of George Bush (senior), said that given the spread of ethnic conflicts, genocide and shattering family bonds in the 20th century, the idea of dialogue among civilizations can be a solution for the mankind.

Ridha Bouabid, the observer of the International Francophone Organization, read a message from former UN secretary general Butros Ghali in which he said that globalization is not merely an economic phenomenon but also entails manifold political consequences of which some might not be pleasant.

(IRNA)