International conference with the tittle ‘intercultural dialogue in development education’ has been the biggest event among nongovemental organizations during Slovenian presidency.  Conference, which took day on 9 and 10 June has taken place in Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana, has been organized by SLOGA with cooperation from CONCORD, European commission and Slovene Ministry for Foreign Affairs.    

The conference had also many side events like exhibition, workshop for children, youngsters and adults, manifestation and press conference.  The first pre event was an exhibition with the title:  ''How do the people living in developing countries really see the impact of Europe?''  Photographs show positive and less positive impact of Europe on developing countries and how we can help developing countries without destroying their own culture.  The exhibition was opened by Helena Drnovšek Zorko, head of PR in Ministry for Foreign Affairs.  Helena has stressed the importance of strong civil society for effective national development policy.   

Over 230 participants from national ministries and state agencies, parliaments, EU institutions, European civil society, international organizations, local and regional authorities and research institutes participated in the European Conference on Intercultural Dialogue in Development Education on 9-10 June 2008 in Ljubljana. The conference focused on the implementation of the European Development Education Consensus in the framework of the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue. It was organized by SLOGA (the Slovene NGDO platform), in co-operation with CONCORD, the European Development Education Consensus Steering Group, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Slovenia and the European Commission.  The conference calls on growing political commitment and strengthened policy in the field of Development Education, at European and national level, namely implementing The European Consensus on Development: The contribution of Development Education and Awareness Raising.  
 
Apart form the conference, there were also workshops for children, young people and adults.  The workshops included many activities such as games concerning global education where participants learned about unfair conditions that some countries face and how can each person with the change of thinking and living contribute towards better and fairer world.  

During the lunch time, 200 participants joined Sloga manifestation and publicly called Slovenian government and other European governments to start paying attention to development cooperation and global education with inclusion of civil society.

On Thursday, after the conference Sloga and Council of Europe organized press conference where main recommendations and conclusion were drawn.  Please see final recommendation in the file attached.