About the project
The idea for the Forum 2000 Conference originated in 1997, when former Czech President Václav Havel, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel, and philanthropist Yohei Sasakawa invited world leaders to Prague to discuss the challenges humanity was facing on the threshold of a new millennium. Since then, Forum 2000 evolved into a successful and widely recognized conference series, where distinguished guests continue to address a diverse international community on topics ranging from religious dialogue to human rights and national security.
According to former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell, “The best way to turn philosophy into action is to bring together the philosophers and actors as President Havel does at Forum 2000.” Over the years, Forum 2000 has also become a true Prague tradition, followed closely by the media, political, intellectual, and business elites, and the interested public.
Distinguished Participants
Among the hundreds of personalities who have so far taken part in the Forum 2000 Conferences have been Madeleine Albright, Ales Bialiatski, Elie Wiesel, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Lech Wałęsa, Maia Sandu, Hillary and Bill Clinton, Cardinal Joseph Zen, Henry Kissinger, Aung San Suu Kyi, Zygmunt Bauman, Garry Kasparov, Luis Almagro, Mary Robinson, Rabbi Michael Melchior, Tsai Ing-wen, José Ramos Horta, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Felipe González, Vladimir Kara-Murza, George Soros, Prince Albert II of Monaco, Richard von Weizsäcker, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Immanuel Wallerstein, Francis Fukuyama, Tawakkol Karman, Andrej Kiska, Vartan Gregorian, Prince Hassan bin Talal, Grigory Yavlinsky, and Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
Goal of the Conferences
Since the beginning, the aim of the Forum 2000 Conferences was to map the globalization process and to note its positive results as well as the perils encountered by an increasingly volatile, accelerated and interconnected world. It has always striven to maintain an up-to-date dialogue about important and complex issues that are key to the future of civilization. The current discussions at the Conference explore and analyze the democracy and human rights developments around the world, the rise of authoritarianism and illiberalism, the impact of technology on society, the competition for global tech dominance, the global cooperation of democracies, and the role of civil society, among other topics and specific themes.
The Forum 2000 delegates also discuss how to handle the global variety of cultures, ideologies and religions; how to strengthen and promote the liberal order as an answer at the global level; and what the role of the media and the big tech companies (mostly related to information and social media) is in the conflict of perceptions.
The goal of these discussions is to achieve a better understanding of our globalized and uncertain world and of the key challenges facing mankind.
Forum 2000 provides global political, intellectual, spiritual, and business leaders with the proper venue to voice their concerns as well as to look for ways to address them.
28th Forum 2000 Conference
The 28th Forum 2000 Conference was held in Prague on October 13–15, 2024.
A selection of photographs from previous years
More photographs can be found at each conference page
Previous years of the Forum 2000 Conference
October 15, 2000 - October 18, 2000
