September 22nd, 2015

(Xinhuanet) on Sept 21, (Milan time), Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation Foundation and the organising committee of ‘Power of dreams, a journey of love’ co-hosted a commemoration event to mark the ‘International Day of Peace’ at the Mediterranean Square of EXPO Milano 2015 garden.

The organising committee of EXPO Milano 2015 offered great support for the event, Irene Pivetti, the former speaker of Italy’s House of Representative, Emil Constantinescu, former premier of Romania, Fiorello Provera, vice- chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, foreign minister of Turkey, Mehri Madarshahi, president of the Melody for Dialogue among Civilizations Association UNESCO attended the event and delivered speeches. Over a hundred of people from all walks of life who strive for global peace and development also attended the event.

The event covered four major themes: artwork showcase, ceremony to pray for peace, ‘Dialogue among civilisations, a journey of love’ forum and the World Peace Contribution Award ceremony.

In 2001, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution designating that September 21 as the International Day of peace. The resolution ‘declared that the International Day of Peace shall henceforth be observed as a day of global ceasefire and non-violence, an invitation to all nations and people to honour a cessation of hostilities for the duration of the Day.’ The resolution also invited all Member States, organizations of the United Nations system, regional and non-governmental organizations and individuals to commemorate, in an appropriate manner, the International Day of Peace, including through education and public awareness, and to cooperate with the United Nations in the establishment of the global ceasefire.’ This year marks the 70th anniversary of the end of the 2nd world war. The bell of peace rang at the Milano EXPO garden.

Xiao Wunan, executive vice chairman of Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation Foundation, said in his speech, ‘Culture, as a bridge for exchanges among nations, promotes communication and understanding among different nations. Dialogue among civilisations lays a firm foundation for the long-term goal of promoting prosperity and development of humanity. Xiao also told reporters his dream of peace: ‘Peace is to eliminate wars and conflicts. To be able to do that, we need to find out the root cause of conflicts. Ancient Oriental wisdom offers us some enlightenment. We should find inner peace first in order to pursue world peace. The Chinese character ‘harmony’ means balance between nature and man. We should start doing it little by little to lay the foundation of achieving world peace.’

Wang Xingxian, executive director of ‘Power of dreams, a journey of love’ thinks that ‘Peace is not only a political term. Peace is the foundation of the existence and development of mankind. It is also the dream of everyone. The organising committee did a lot of work to find ordinary people’s dreams.’ Wang said the organising committee interviewed many people from all walks of life, including many Chinese elementary and middle class students and asked them to describe their dreams and explain love in their eyes and collected paper cranes they made.”

‘Chinese people have loved peace since ancient times. 2015 is the year that children all over the world shared a deeper understanding of world peace. We firmly believe that through the force of civil society, we can spread the seeds of peace even wider, these future masters of our world will continue to hold the banner of peace high, they are also the hope of our world.’

Non-governmental organisations, enterprises and individuals from China and many other countries attended the event and joined the discussion of peace and development with politicians from around the world. Xiao Wunan, executive vice chairman of Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation Foundation, the organising committee of “Power of dreams, a journey of love’, Irene Pivetti, former speaker of Italy’s House of Representatives and Xu Xiaoyong, a famous sculptor, won the peace contribution awards.