Dr Youcef Nedjadi
Member of the Foundation Board
Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,
It is my pleasure, on behalf of the Cordoba Foundation, to welcome you all to this seminar on pilgrimage as a path towards reconciliation.
Mr Abbas Aroua, director of the Foundation, would have liked to be here to welcome you and thank you for coming, and also to benefit from the valuable insights of our distinguished speakers and the debate that will follow. Unfortunately he has been held up abroad by a working meeting on the Iraqi conflict, and asks you to excuse his absence.
As you know, the Cordoba Foundation works to foster exchange between cultures in the spirit of Cordoba and to contribute to the study of conflict and peace in the world.
Our Foundation thanks Ms Gabrielle Nanchen for proposing the theme of pilgrimage as a way of getting to know one another, and possibly of reconciliation. With her practical experience, repeated several times, of the long road to Compostela, and her broad historical knowledge of the subject, shared with many readers in her magnificent book Compostelle, de la Reconquista à la réconciliation, and with her power of conviction, she had no difficulty in bringing us, along with other friends, on board this happy initiative.
We are sure that this symposium will open up avenues of reflection on how to deepen this approach, leading perhaps to a sustained programme of meetings aimed at sharing as widely as possible the various experiences of pilgrimage lived by people who share the desire for spiritual ascent.
Without further delay, I give the floor to Ms Nanchen to open the seminar.
Dr Youcef Nedjadi
Member of the Foundation Board
