Date of publication: 16/11/2011
The Flemish Government is making an International Centenary effort with a programme for events up to and during the Centenary from 2014-2018. These events need an initial investment of 15 million Euros.
The Flemish Government has announced a number of plans for the occasion including an invitation to the 50 countries who lost soldiers in WW1, a symposium of Nobel Peace Prize winners, the commissioning of a ‘Peace Hymn’ and plans to create remembrance gardens in cities across the world. These are to be landscaped with soil exported from the Westhoek of Flanders, where much of the fighting took place.
Announcing the plans last week, Flemish Minister-President, Kris Peeters and Heritage and Tourism Minister, Geert Bourgeois said that they are to involve 50 countries, including Russia, South Africa, France and Britain in the signing of what they have called the ‘Flanders Fields Declaration’ that acknowledges the continued suffering of millions throughout the world due to war. Peeters states that the Declaration “will reiterate that cooperation between nations, disarmament, regional integration and respect for International laws and human rights remain the key to a better future”.
To read more about the plans in ‘Flanders Today’, click here.
Image courtesy Flanders Today website