Project Aladdin is a multi-faceted cultural initiative launched in March 2009 under the patronage of UNESCO with the aim of countering Holocaust denial and all forms of racism and intolerance, while promoting intercultural dialogue, particularly among Muslims and Jews.
In line with the project's expressed purpose of helping to "bring about a dialogue based on knowledge and mutual respect," the fast-expanding library is set to also include works of authors from the Muslim world translated into English and French.
Also present on behalf of their respective governments were Mustafa Ceric, the Grand Mufti of Bosnia, and Professor İlber Ortaylı, a distinguished Turkish historian and president of the Topkapı Museum in Istanbul.
[5] Other notables who came from far away to be present at the conference included Abdou Filali-Ansari representing Aga Khan IV, former Tunisian Prime Ministers Hédi Baccouche and Mohammed Mzali, Egypt's Aly El Samman, a veteran proponent of interfaith dialogue and advisor to the late President Anwar El Sadat, Ahmed Aboutaleb, the Mayor of Rotterdam, Gul Khan, the Lord Mayor of Nottingham, Iranian theologian Ayatollah Ahmad Iravani, Hélé Béji, president of the International College of Tunis, and Pakistani-born British Mufti Abduljalil Sajid.
[5] In a message to the conference read on his behalf by French Justice Minister Rachida Dati, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France said, "The strength of the Aladdin Project is to extend a hand to those who have been handicapped by prejudices, ignorance, or simply a lack of accessible information; to expose the lies and clear up the misunderstandings; to open up a new horizon for our common future.