Prague, Oct 3 (CTK) – Constantinople Archbishop Bartolomew I and the Russian political activist and former chess grandmaster, Garry Kasparov, will take part in the 20th conference Forum 2000 scheduled for October 16-19 in Prague, Forum 2000 Foundation spokeswoman Anna Vosalikova told CTK on Monday.
Bartolomew I is considered the spiritual leader of the Orthodox Christians worldwide.
The forthcoming conference, founded by former president Vaclav Havel (1936-2011), will have the motto Courage to Assume Responsibility. Havel initiated Forum 2000 in 1997 together with writer Elie Wiesel and Japanese philanthropist Yohei Sasakawa.
Vosalikova said in June that the Tibetan Dalai Lama will be among the participants. He will deliver a lecture on October 19.
The Dalai Lama attended the conference previously in 2013. At Havel’s invitation, he came to Czechoslovakia in 1990 for the first time.
The participants will also include the former Costa Rica president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Oscar Arias, Czech priest and Templeton Prize winner Tomas Halik and Polish journalist Adam Michnik.
The conference will discuss questions such as whether democratic countries are capable of developing strong personalities who become future leaders and whether the tendency towards authoritarian rule in the world results from the weakness of democracy.
Within the conference, civic groups will present their activities to the public and a festival of films on human rights will be organised in cooperation with the One World festival.
The Forum 2000 conference will traditionally be held in the Zofin Palace in the centre of the city and it will be open to the public.
