Dialogue at root of civilizations can help deal with current crises: Greek expert

Cross-cultural dialogue in particular between Greece and China, the two cradles of the world's civilization, can help the governments and citizens across the globe to review their approach to current crises and find most effective solutions, an acclaimed Greek expert has said.

Konstantinos Tsoukalas, president of the Hellenic Cultural Foundation, made the remarks Monday while addressing an event here entitled "China-Europe: Cultural dialogues in Greece".

Greek and Chinese senior officials and scholars convened at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens to exchange views on enhancing cultural collaboration between the East and the West to support mutual understanding and cooperation in more fields.

Culture is a sound vehicle to reach solutions regarding the main challenges the world faces today, said Tsoukalas, President of the Hellenic Cultural Foundation.

He noted that the recent global economic crisis revealed that at the root of the problem was a crisis of values.

"The financial crisis is not strictly the outcome of wrong choices in the economic field, but the result of the ideological and cultural crises. It is a crisis of values the world is faced with in our times," the professor of sociology said.

The increasing and deepening Sino-Greek cultural dialogue can help the two nations and the entire international community to discover alternative ways to tackle problems, he added.

"The dialogue at the roots of the two civilizations can be proved very beneficial not only from a historic and academic aspect, but also regarding the ways we are dealing with the problems today," Tsoukalas said. Endit