The first Universal Forum of Cultures will be held in Barcelona, Spain, from May 9 to September 26 in 2004, and expects to attract more than five million visitors to its events. Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, attended a presentation of the Forum in the presence of the Mayor of Barcelona, Joan Clos, and the Ambassador of Spain to UNESCO, Francisco Villar, together with representatives and partners earlier this month. The aim of the Forum, in which UNESCO has been involved in the various phases of preparation and organisation, is to promote new ways of thinking and to develop new attitudes around a trinity of issues that go to the very heart of UNESCO’s mission. These include respect for cultural diversity, the promotion of sustainable development and the search for the conditions for peace. The Director-General described the Forum as ‘a celebration of human creativity, a promotion of the causes of peace and sustainable development so that we may learn to live together in harmony with ourselves and our surroundings, and a fascinating revelation of the rich diversity of human cultures and the natural world.’ For further information on the Universal Forum of Cultures, CLICK HERE.