On 20-23 April, the Euro Mediterranean Intercultural Dialogue Forum, celebrating Lebanon as the 35th member State of the Enlarged Partial Agreement on the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe (EPA), took place on the Byblos Campus of the American Lebanese American University in Beirut.

The Minister of Tourism HE Walid NASSAR; the Minister of Culture Minister of Culture, Judge Mohammad MORTADA; the President of the LAU, Dr. Michel MAWAD; the EPA Representative for Lebanon, Dr. Rachid CHAMOUN and the EPA Executive Secretary, Mr. Stefano DOMINIIONI opened the Forum.

The Forum Programme can be found here.

The Forum was moderated by Ms. Elissar BAALBAKY, President of the Lebanese Tour Guide Syndicates. Representatives of the four Cultural Route of the Council of Europe crossing Lebanon to-date attended the event. They were represented by Mr. Antonio BARONE, The Phoenicians Routes; Ms. Marinella KATSILLERI, President of The Routes of the Olive Tree; Ms. Emanuela PANKE, President of Iter Vitis as well as by Ms. Concha de SANTA ANA FERNANDEZ for The Routes of El legado Andalusí’ by the Umayyad Route.

The Forum was the opportunity to celebrate Lebanon as the 35th member State of the EPA of the Council of Europe and for the inauguration of the Phoenicians’ Route Museum in the historical district of the Municipality of Jounieh as well to celebrate Bkassine as one of the best tourist villages in the world, as part of the initiative of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), and to visit network member sites along the Routes of the Olive Tree and Iter Vitis.

Lebanon became the 35th member State of the EPA in January 2022 and is currently crossed by 3 “Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe”: The Phoenicians’ Route, the Routes of El Llegado Andalusí and the Routes of the Olive Tree and Iter Vitis. Dr. Rachid Chamoun is the Representative of Lebanon to the EPA Governing Board.