The Anna Lindh Foundation (ALF) shall be hosting the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Forum in Valletta on 24th and 25th October 2016. Set up in 2005 by the governments of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (Euromed), the ALF is an international organisation shared by 43 Euro Mediterranean countries to bring peoples together and promote intercultural dialogue so as to improve mutual respect between cultures and to support civil society members working for a common future of the region.

Through its action and reflection, the ALF aims to contribute to the development of an Intercultural Strategy for the Euro-Mediterranean Region, providing recommendations to decision-makers and institutions and advocating for shared values. To fulfill this mandate, the Forum will draw together civil society organisations, youth associations, regional institutions, media bodies, donor agencies and foundations to exchange practices, to promote partnerships and to advocate for policy and operational measures for a new horizon of people-to-people cooperation around the Mediterranean based on a set of common values.

The Forum shall present intercultural dialogue as the central tool for this cooperation and as a core response to the main regional socio-cultural challenges. The key topics of discussion will be intercultural dialogue for more cross-cultural understanding, women for dialogue, a more sustainable future with increased opportunities for young people, and more interaction and exchanges across the Mediterranean.

The Maltese Presidency of the European Council, from January to June 2017, shall create a unique platform to put Mediterranean Dialogue at the top of the EU and Euromed policy agenda. Thus the organisation of the Forum in Malta represents an opportunity to build on Malta’s strategic location as meeting point and mediator, and to reinforce the intercultural dialogue approach.