World Public Forum "Dialogue of Civilizations"

The conference has drawn about 40 experts from some of China's leading social sciences institutes and almost 40 leading experts in strategic development from countries such as Russia, Britain, Germany and the United States.

The experts will focus discussions on topics such as the formation of the post-crisis world order, lessons from the international financial crisis and global economic trends in the post-crisis era.

Former general secretary of the Council of Europe Walter Schwimmer and Indian futurologist Jagdish Kapur will participate in the discussion on the global significance of the dialogue between different civilizations.

WPF Founding President Vladimir Yakunin and CFIRC President Zhang Deguang delivered key note speeches at the opening.

They held informal small-scale talks on Sunday.

The WPF aims to unite the efforts of the international community to protect spiritual and cultural values of humanity and to organize constructive dialogue among major civilizations of the modern world.

It held its first meeting in 2002. The meeting became a regular annual event the next year.