The 5th Baku International Humanitarian Forum has heard speeches from chairs of round table meetings that will be held on September 30.

The session was chaired by Mikayil Jabbarov, Minister of Education of Azerbaijan, who noted the importance of the Forum. He said round tables will focus on a wide range of pressing issues of global importance. He noted that the Azerbaijani government attaches great importance to humanitarian issues.

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Vincenzo Scotti, President of Link Campus University, Italy, will chair "Different Models of Multiculturalism: from Theory to Humanitarian Practice" round table. He provided an insight into the agenda of the round table. He thanked the President of Azerbaijan for the "excellent" delivery of the event. Mr Scotti said multiculturalism lay at the heart of state policy of both national leader Heydar Aliyev and President Ilham Aliyev. He said the Forum was a brilliant opportunity for acclaimed scientists from different parts of the world to give their message to younger generations. He underlined the importance of building dialogue for ensuring peaceful co-existence of people.

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Rashid Khalikov, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, highlighted the issues to be discussed at the round table "The Importance of Preserving the Human Capital in Conditions of Mass Migration as a Basis for Sustainable Development". He drew the audience`s attention to migration problem. Mr Khalikov also praised the organization of the Baku Forum.

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Mikhail Gusman, First Deputy Director General of the Russian news agency TASS, spoke of the topics to be discussed at "Transforming of Journalism for the Information Age and its Role in Ensuring Inter-Civilizational Dialogue" round table. He praised multiculturalism and tolerance in Azerbaijan. "For centuries people of different religious and ethnic background have lived together in peace, friendship and harmony in the country." Mr Gusman emphasized positive and negative aspects of the media and social networks.

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Leyla Aliyeva, Vice President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, founder of the International Dialogue Initiative for Protection of Environment–IDEA, provided an insight into the agenda of "Sustainable Development and Ecological Civilization" round table. "Azerbaijan is a land of ancient traditions and rich history, a place that sits at the crossroad between East and West, where Eastern wisdom and Western progress meet," she said. "In the days gone by, Azerbaijan was a major center on the historic silk route. This had a major impact on our culture making Azerbaijan a country that at its heart believes in tolerance, new ideas and dialogue. This unique geographic position of Azerbaijan also had an impact on our landscapes. Our country is a place of wonderful snowcapped mountains, sharp cliffs, rivers, deep forests, meadows, and lowlands."

Leyla Aliyeva spoke of the history of the establishment of IDEA. "We all know that governments carry out the primary responsibility for the protection of environment, but without active civil engagement, especially youth, it is impossible to ensure sustainable development. Therefore, in 2011 we have launched IDEA – the international campaign for dialogue and environmental action. Our intention was to educate and invite youth not only in Azerbaijan, but also around the world to protect the nature! Our slogan speaks for itself "One earth and future". "We try to carry out all our projects in a creative, artistic and optimistic way. Over the past five years, we have achieved many positive results such as planting more than 5 million trees, protecting the endangered species, organizing lectures, classes and exhibitions to raise the awareness!"

Leyla Aliyeva said the round table will address "an emerging and very important issue to the whole international community". "We all know that ecology and civilizations are two contradictory terms as civilizations have been undermining the global ecology for thousands of years. As a result, today we are in a situation when the survival of the whole planet is under the threat. However, emergence of "ecological civilization" concept demonstrates that more people are aware of this situation and are willing to act in order to protect our environment." "Regardless of our race, religion, traditions and beliefs, we all live on the same planet and have common future – environmental problems have no borders. They threaten all the countries, and only working together and supporting each other, we can achieve positive results."

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Mark Rosenblatt, Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, USA, drew the audience`s attention to what will be discussed at "Molecular Biology, Biophysics, Biotechnology and Issues of Personnel Training in Modern Medicine: Innovative and Ethical Problems" round table. He said the round table will address the challenges of modern medical science and the problem of medical education, innovative and ethical problems of molecular biology, biophysics, biotechnology in the modern era.

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Aleksandr Bugaev, Member of the Presidium of the Russian

Academy of Sciences, Head of Laboratory of the Institute of Radio

Engineering and Electronics named after V.A.Kotelnikov, will chair round table "Converging Technologies and Predictions for the Future: the Main Challenges of the 21st Century". He said the issues to be discussed at the round table include security issues of nuclear technology and fusion energy, issues of expanding the scope and sources of renewable energy, convergence of radiation-, nano- and bionano-technology.