Welcome to our Website!

CDAC (Comprehensive Dialogue Among Civilizations) is an NGO based in Geneva with contributing staff in Moscow, New York and Sao Paolo. Our organisation was founded in 2002 by former UN Under-Secretary General Vladimir Petrovsky. Mr. Petrovsky was Director-General of the European Headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva from 1993-2002. During these years Mr. Petrovsky also acted as Secretary-General of the Conference of Disarmament. From 1985-1991 Mr. Petrovsky served as Deputy Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union under President Gorbachev.

We are a small team of dedicated staff that works mostly on a voluntary basis. Our main focus over the last few years has been the archiving of Mr. Petrovsky’s work and the publication of books and papers on specific topics. We are currently working on an Archive Website for Mr. Petrovsky. This site will feature all of his speeches from the time in Geneva as well as other documents.

Michael S. Karlen
Secretary-General

We are currently working on an Archive Website for Mr. Petrovsky. This site will feature all of his speeches from the time in Geneva as well as other documents” should be changed into “We have recently finished a special Archive Website for Mr. Petrovsky’s work in Geneva. Please find the link to this Website here

Message by the CDAC Founder, Vladimir Petrovsky

"My major message would be that we need to concentrate on global, regional, and national governance and to learn how to pilot changes in a positive, constructive and evolutionary way and to keep human dignity as a priority in this period of changes.

It seems clear to me that a holistic approach needs to be the guiding force towards problem-solving at the international level, and that a multilateral effort is required.

Political will, practical steps and partnerships have to be combined with a renewed spirit of global cooperation and solidarity.

The time has come to develop a planetary way of thinking which subsumes the definition of national interest within the global context.

It can be asserted that Kant’s vision of what is now referred to as responsible global governance really is a final “realization of Nature’s secret plan to create a perfectly functioning state as a single condition of complete development of man’s natural capacities.”

Mikhail Gorbachev about Vladimir Petrovsky:

"Vladimir Petrovsky was a prominent figure of our time. A diplomat, a politician, a humanistic thinker, he combined service for the welfare of his Motherland with concern for the future of all humanity.

Mr. Petrovsky was one of the creators and initiators of perestroika foreign policy, the policy of the new thinking. For him, it was not an opportunistic choice. When perestroika, by force of circumstances, suddenly ended, he never stopped believing that the main tenets of the new thinking were right."

Mission and Goals

The aim of the NGO 'Comprehensive Dialogue among Civilizations' (CDAC) is:

I. Vision

The activities of CDAC are based on the understanding that each individual, each country, each culture and each civilization is unique and has something special to offer to humanity. The Dialogue among Civilizations is needed and imperative to promote this spirit and a culture of 'Unity in Diversity'. The key for an effective, profound and transformative Dialogue among Civilizations lie in each group focusing on the positive contributions they can make towards humankind, in thought and actions. We are all different, but also constitute part of one humanity and only together, through a true spirit of dialogue, cooperation and solidarity will we be able to build a peaceful global home for our world-family.

'Beyond the turmoil, the division and perplexities of our time, humankind is slowly but surely finding ways, limits and codes of behaviour which will encompass all races, nations and ideologies. It is the formulation of these new ethics which will be the great challenge for the new generation. It will concern not only men's material fate, but also their mental and spiritual lives.' Dr. Robert Muller, former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations

II. Mission Statement

The aim of the association 'Comprehensive dialogue among Civilizations' (CDAC) is:

to encourage a multi-cultural and inter-religious as well as political and diplomatic dialogue between countries, regions and population groups as a contribution to mutual understanding, tolerance and respect for diversity.
to develop, cultivate and promote the spirit and culture of dialogue with the ultimate goal of creating tools and instruments to address the current issues and challenges on the world agenda in a constructive, evolutionary and successful way.
To promote global human values and guiding ethical principles with the aim to sustain and develop a peaceful global society as it is set out in the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.