UN General Assembly
2019

I will follow up the creation of the Academy with keen attention, because I believe that true peace is established not on paper but between human beings, and because I also have faith in Lebanon’s role and vocation as a land of convergence and dialogue, and in the experiences and expertise of its people and its pluralistic society, which have enabled them to reject intellectual and religious extremism and live in tolerance and acceptance of others. The Academy is all the more important because it embodies an international project for fostering the convergence of various cultures, religions and ethnicities, while promoting a spirit of coexistence and spreading a culture of knowing and accepting the other, in line with the principles of the United Nations and with what this Organization aims for through its noble programmes, which strive to bridge the gaps between peoples and to advance the preventive diplomacy that can ultimately help to eradicate the causes of conflicts.