Khatami Arrives in Spain to Attend UN Meeting on Civilizations

Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting:

Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, commissioned by UN Chief Kofi Annan as a member of the UN group "Alliance of Civilization", arrived in Spain's Mallorca Island Saturday night to participate in the first meeting of high ranking UN group's first session.

Khatami, along with seventeen other members of the newly established UN group, are commissioned to survey the practical ways for proximity among civilizations, holding dialogue among them, and to present their scheme for the purpose to the UN.

Members of the group, comprised of prominent international political and cultural personalities, were appointed as its members in August 2004 after accepting Secretary General Kofi Annan's proposal on the purpose.

The first three-day gathering of the Group "Alliance of Civilizations" would start its activities on Sunday morning after watching a video message by Kofi Annan, hearing the message of Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, and his urkish counterpart Recep Teyeb Urdugan.

Khatami was received upon arrival in Mallorca from Frankfurt by Islamic Republic of Iran's Ambassador to Madrid Morteza Alviri, a number of Spanish officials, and the organizers of the UN small-scale gathering.

The UN group is expected to bring together Western and Muslim states in the fight against radicalism. READ MORE

The group will gather in Palma de Mallorca in Spain's Balearic Islands to set in train an idea first mooted last year by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero at UN headquarters in New York.

The group, co-chaired by Spanish former UNESCO director general Federico Mayor and Turkish minister of state and theology Mehmet Aydin, are due to come up with a range of recommendations next year.