The Meeting for Friendship Among the Peoples, which is based on the principal teachings of Monsignor Luigi Giussani, founder of the movement of Communion and Liberation, will take place for the 30th time from August 23rd to 29th in Rimini, Italy.

During the beginning presentation of the Meeting on June 9th in the Italian embassy to the Vatican, some ambassadors to the Holy See, such as Francis Martin-Xavier Campbell of the United Kingdom and Albert Edward Ismail Yelda of Iraq, spoke with H2onews about the importance of the Meeting in Rimini. The title of this year's event  is "Knowledge is Always an Event".

“I think if you look back over previous years, you will see that we value the discussion that takes place at Rimini. It is un unusual space where a variety of individuals from a variety of backgrounds can come together and to look at quite complex issues in a quite interdisciplinary fashion”.

“I think it is a very important meeting and a meeting to discuss the issue of interreligious dialogue, the issue of peace, issues concerning security and stability in any country in the world. It is very important to my own country, to my own people, to my own government”.

The Italian Ambassador to the Holy See, Antonio Zanardi Landi, the host of the beginning presentation of the Meeting, emphasized the uniqueness of this encounter:

"The presence of the ambassadors here and the fact that we ourselves have voluntarily provided accommodations, like last year, for our friends in the Meeting, is because the concept becomes ever more clear: the organizations headed by the Meeting and the Meeting itself, is -- just like other movements within the Catholic world -- becoming a main actor in the world of international relations."

This year's Rimini Meeting has been presented in many different countries around the world: such as France at the UNESCO Headquarters on May 5th, Brasil on May 21st, the United States on June 3rd, and San Marino on July 3rd.