Mohammad Khatami (video conference) is an Iranian scholar, philosopher, Shiite theologian and Reformist politician. He served as the fifth President of Iran from August 2, 1997 to August 3, 2005. He also served as Iran’s Minister of Culture in both the 1980s and 1990s. He is known for promoting “Dialogues among Civilizations” after which the United Nations, decided to declare the Year 2001 setting united a new paradigm of International relations.

Giuliano Amato is President of the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna di Pisa and is also teaching at the School of Government at LUISS University in Rome. Before he was Professor of Comparative Constitutional Law at University of Rome “La Sapienza”. He was the Italian Prime Minister in 1992-‘93 and in 2000-’01, Minister of Domestic Affairs in Italy until April 2008 and served also as Secretary of the Treasury in Italy. He was the Vice-President of the Convention for the European Constitution. His most recent publications include Antitrust and the Bounds of Power, When the Economy is affected with a Public Interest, The Europeanisation of Law, The Anticompetitive Impact of Regulations (co-editor with L. Laudati), and Tornare al futuro. He is the President of the Scientific Committee of Reset-Dialogues on Civilizations.

Alessandro Ferrara is Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata” and former President of the Italian Association of Political Philosophy. Over the past few years he has investigated the sources and justifications of normativity after the linguistic turn and has worked at outlining an authenticity view of validity as well as a judgment view of justice in the domain of political philosophy. He is the author of Modernity and Authenticity (1993), Reflective Authenticity (1998), Justice and Judgement (1999) and The Force of the Example (2008). He is a member of Reset-Dialogues and the Executive Committee of Istanbul Seminars.

Ramin Jahanbegloo is an Iranian-Canadian philosopher. He is presently a Professor of Political Science and a Research Fellow at the Centre for Ethics at University of Toronto. In April 2006 Dr. Jahanbegloo was arrested in Tehran Airport charged with preparing a velvet revolution Iran. He was placed in solitary confinement for four months and released on bail. Among his books: Conversations with Isaiah Berlin (1992), Penser la Nonviolence (1999), Iran: Between Tradition and Modernity (2004) The Clash of Intolerances (2007) and The Spirit of India (2008). He is a member of the Scientific Committee of Reset-Dialogues.

Gholamali Khoshroo is a Special Advisor to President Khatami on “Dialogue among Civilizations” and Senior Editor of the Encyclopedia of Contemporary Islam. From 2002-2005 he was the Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Khoshroo has served also as the Ambassador to the United Nations (1990 -95) and Deputy Foreign Minister for Research and Education. In recent years, he has extensively worked on the development of contemporary political Islam and its implication for Western societies. He has published several articles and books on political and cultural affairs.

Roberto Toscano is an Italian Ambassador and has recently been Public Policy Scholar at Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington. He was Italian Ambassador to Iran and India. He focuses on the topics of human rights and the ethics of international relations. Amongst his recent books: Between terrorism and global governance: essays on ethics, violence and international law (2009), Beyond Violence. Principles for an Open Century (with R.Jahanbegloo, 2009) and La violenza, le regole (2006). He is President of the Intercultura Foundation and member of the Scientific Committee of Reset-Dialogues.