The North-South Centre will be celebrating its 20th Anniversary, from November 2009 to May 2010

Under the motto “One world, our world”, the celebrations of the 20^th Anniversary reflect the wish of the Centre to emphasise its history and its achievements as well as honour the famous or less famous personalities who have played a part in its creation or been part of it during the last 20 years.

Most of the activities of the programme during this period will be under the auspices of this event. In addition, the Centre plans to organise specific activities including:

· the adoption of a new statutory Resolution by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe confirming the relevance and the role of the Centre;
· the creation of an historical retrospective publication and the making of a video-clip;
· the organisation of a debate on global interdependence and solidarity in the XXI^st century, together with the launch of a prestigious publication containing the contributions of the winners of the North-South Prize of the Council of Europe;
· cultural events and production of publicity material;

· for more information…

The initiative “20 bridge builders in the history of humanity” will also be launched, honouring 20 personalities who have contributed in a remarkable way to intercultural dialogue. The 20^th Anniversary will give the Centre the opportunity to be associated with a certain number of projects organised by its Headquarters. In Strasbourg, the Permanent Representations of Portugal and Italy will mark the 20^th Anniversary.

A reception was offered by the Permanent Representative of Portugal in Strasbourg to commemorate the 20^th Anniversary of this decision.

On this occasion, the following declarations were made public :

 . See the Joint Declaration of the Chair of the North-South Centre and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe
 . Message from His Excellency the President of the Republic, Prof. Doctor Aníbal Cavaco Silva
 . Statement by Mr. Jorge Sampaio, High Representative of the United Nations for the Alliance of Civilizations
 . Statement of the President of the European Commission, Mr. Barroso

On 20^th November,, the Parlamentary Assembly adopted a Recommendation 1893(2009), “The future of the European Centre for Global Interdependence and Solidarity”, based on a report from the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development, (Rapporteur, Mr. Sasi, Finland) and an Opinion from the Committee on Culture, Science and Education (Rapporteur, Mrs Maria Manuela de MELO, Portugal).

During this Ceremony, a new publication and a special newsletter were presented too :

PDF of the publication (in french)

See the special newsletter