Conference Overview

The Annual Conference on Cultural Diplomacy is the world's leading event in the field of cultural diplomacy hosted and organized by ICD in partnership with other leading institutions at the end of each year.

The current political and security situation in many regions and countries together with the deteriorations of social norms for the use of violence, emphasizes the growing need for a greater cultural dialogue, understanding and trust in order to avoid further escalation. The 2016 Annual Conference on Cultural Diplomacy will therefore focus, on raising awareness and support for activities that promote global human rights.

The 2016 Annual Conference on Cultural Diplomacy aims to present all successful CD practices in the area of human rights that the field of cultural diplomacy has to offer to the international community for their application to try to remedy and ease these growing global challenges. The conference will bring together leading politicians, religious leaders, senior academics and celebrated artists together with representatives from areas of conflict in order to establish new institutions and initiatives that will help with these challenges using the practice of cultural diplomacy together with other practices and means.

Conference Locations

Based in Berlin, the conference will be hosted in the ICD House of Arts & Culture, the German Parliament and several hotels in Berlin.

Conference Speakers & Delegates

The conference will bring together over 500 delegates coming from the fields of politics and religion together with senior academics and celebrated artists travelling to Berlin from all corners of the world to promote global peace in our interdependent world.

The Conference will include Keynote Addresses from the following Honorable Members of the ICD:

President Viktor Yushchenko Former President of Ukraine	President Bujar Nishani President of Albania	President Atifete Jahjaga Former President of the Republic of Kosovo
Marek Belka     Former Prime Minister of Poland	Hon. Pedro Sánchez Former Secretary General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party	Hon. Elmar Brok Chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs
Minister Lilyana Pavlova Minister of Regional Development and Public Works of Bulgaria	Hon. Jan Figel EU Commission  Envoy for the Promotion of Freedom of Religion	Altabt Gregor Ulrich Henckel Donnersmarck Emerited Abbot of Heiligenkreuz Abbey
Hon. Ján Čarnogurský Former Prime Minister of Slovakia	Hon. Lawrence Gonzi Former Prime Minister of Malta	President Emil Constantinescu Former President of Romania
Hon. Mirko Cvetkovic Former Prime Minister of Serbia	Hon. Mihai Razvan Ungureanu Former Prime Minister of Romania	Hon. Hrant Bagratyan Former Prime Minister of Armenia
Hon. Janez Jansa Former Prime Minister of Slovenia	President Valdis Zatlers Former President of Latvia	Hon. Rui Duarte BARROS Former Prime minister of Guinea – Bissau

Conference Participants »

Participation in the conference is open to governmental & diplomatic officials, academics, economists, representatives of the Business sector, artists, journalists, civil society practitioners, representatives of the Business sector, young professionals as well as other interested individuals from across the world.

If you would like to reserve a position and participate in the conference, please click on the link below and fill out the online registration form:

Certificate of Attendance - All conference participants will be awarded an official certificate of attendance upon completion of the program, which will provide details of the speakers who took part and the topics discussed. Each certificate will be signed by members of the Conference Committee.

Participant Papers »

The Conference Committee encourages academic research and analysis of issues related to the goals of the Conference. The Conference Committee would therefore like to welcome the participants of the conference to submit a paper they would like to be considered for presentation at the conference as well as being included in the proposal document that will be issued following the conference and will be sent to all governments and leaders of the international community worldwide.