BEIRUT President's Advisor and Head of Iran's International Center for Dialogue Among Civilizations, Ataollah Mohajerani, said here Friday night that "dialogue among civilizations" provides the ideal means for saving mankind from violence, oppression and war. Addressing a seminar on the sidelines of the Seventh Beirut International Book Fair, Mohajerani said that Lebanon is a hub of coexistence among various civilizations, cultures, nationalities and religions. He said that only those who have aspirations of imposing their cultures on the region are scared of the regional prominence and characteristics of Lebanon. In other words, he clarified, those who are guilty of usurping the rights of human beings and of Palestinians, in particular, in the pursuit of their own fate are afraid of coexistence among nations. Mohajerani expressed hope that the past century's record of violence, war, bloodshed and religious and cultural divisions would be closed forever. Stressing that mankind has failed in its bitter struggle to eliminate others from the human scene through force, Mohajerani said that prevailing hardships experienced by human beings can have their solution only through a recognition of the rights of others to find their place in global society and to defend their aspirations. Pointing to President Khatami's initiative of "dialogue among civilizations," he said that the Islamic Republic of Iran highly values the views of intellectuals and religious scholars in the Arab and Islamic world on the various aspects of religious culture as religions are "rooted in unity." Mohajerani further said that dialogue is rooted in the fundamental idea that certain thoughts or beliefs cannot be imposed on others; on the other hand, it is a collective effort to recognize the existence of various thoughts that characterize a multi-polar world and that calls for coexistence, understanding and cooperation. He said that it is a common aspiration among peoples to try to reach a civil society at the national, regional and international level and to establish a society of nations based on democratic foundations where each and every individual is guaranteed justice and freedom. Mohajerani said he had high hopes the dialogue of civilizations will prove successful and sustainable and will encourage people to respect each other and accept a multipolar world with local, regional and international diversity. Warning against the unpleasant effects of globalization, he said that he considered it as a kind of trap to trick countries into promoting the aspirations of the U.S. and the interests of its major companies. He said that the U.S. is trying to convince the whole world of the benefits of a global market economy of which it is a leader and which will guarantee unrestrained profits for 20 percent of the world's wealthy and misery for 80 percent of the world's

poor.