The prosperity of peoples achieved through cooperation was not merely the formula of someday dreamers, but the rationale behind an international body… - Ion Iliescu

Civilization is characterized, rather, by tolerance and open-mindedness. Of course, this does not exclude competition between civilizations, between the values they promote, between their capacities to guarantee the free enjoyment of basic human rights and the development of initiative and the human personality.

The structure of the international system, at the end of this century, is experiencing radical changes, particularly the end of the post-war bipolarity, the fall of the Iron Curtain and the end of the cold war. Many new peoples have gained their right to self-determination and democratic development, long repressed by totalitarian regimes.

Experience shows that enhanced regional cooperation can be both the engine and the result of globalization.