"I trust this man although he is a politician." Kristiina Rikman, translator from Finland

"He was very good, it was well done. He knows how to take the audience and keep them alert. In the end he quoted a Nobel Prize winner, I don't remember who, saying 'those who can see the invisible can make the possible'. I think this is very much true of the artists in former Yugoslavia who really try to start a dialogue.

I trust this man although he is a politician. And I hope UNESCO will do something."

"I feel he is behind us"

"I am very satisfied with the presence of Federico Mayor. I believe he spent more time addressing us than he did at the main conference", says Peter Curman, chairman of the Swedish organization KLYS.

Over the years, Federico Mayor has shown a great interest in the multicultural (and multinational) centers which have been created by artists, one of them the Centre on Rhodes.

"I feel that he is behind us in many of these important initiatives. But it is also very important, as Federico Mayor stressed, that the each country takes its responsibility", concludes Peter Curman.

Federico Mayor, on his part, seemed satisfied when he left the World Conference after spending almost three hour with the delegates.

"I think this is a very important initiative", he said.

"Shakespeare in different languages"
- Selim Al Deen agrees with Mayor

Selim Al Deen, Professor of Drama and Dramatics at Jahangir Nagar University in Bangladesh agrees with Federico Mayor as to interaction being the key to cultural development. In his work with dramatic narration Selim Al Deen experiences that language is not the identity of a play. Every form of art is an expression in itself, the body for instance, has a language of its own. To limit identity to a language would be the same as saying that Shakespeare should only be played in English, argues Selim Al Deen. To combine different forms of art and non-verbal language, often creates a much more lively image.

Zhan Jisnzhong:
"Bringing people to discuss together"

"I found more than interesting Mayor's speech," said Zhang Jisnzhong, Chinese oil painter and President of Yunnan Arts Institute. "He talked about the importance of communication among different cultural groups and this is actually very relevant to the situation among minorities in China. We should take the message that the way to resolve the differences is not being apart but being together," said the man that comes from the city where there is always spring.

"Listening to Mayor one gets the impression that UNESCO has really the capacity to act," said a very energetic representative of Belgrade, Borka Pavicevic. After her intervention at the Conference, where she stressed the fact that language should be regarded as a political matter, she talked to the On-line journal. "Mayor has a very charismatic personality and a very practical mind. He is not only a fabulous speaker but also he has a very lively approach about what is really going on out there."