“A lot is being said here about the need for dialogue; I should like to tell you what a very deep chord is struck by our proceedings today and tomorrow on intercultural dialogue at the present time when a Council of Europe member country is torn by a horrific war which has already claimed thousands of victims, and sees its sovereign territory partly occupied by another Council of Europe member country, Russia,” said Jean-Claude Frécon, (France, SOC), President of the Chamber of Local Authorities of the Congress in his address at the Council of Europe Conference on “Intercultural dialogue: interaction between culture and religion” in Baku (Azerbaijan) on 1 September 2014. “At this tragic hour for Ukraine and the entire Europe of values, I express the wish that our proceedings on the importance of dialogue are impressed upon this region of Europe with the compelling urgency which is all that can save these populations trapped in a war from a bygone century.”