Opening Remarks by the Secretary-General of the OAU, H.E. Salim Ahmed Salim, at the International Conference on Culture and Development at the World Bank in Washington, D.C.
"Africa is as committed to modernity as it is to its cultural heritage and values. It can therefore ill-afford to replace its own cultural values by some so-called world culture to whose elaboration Africa was not given opportunity to contribute. Is it wise or indeed advisable for the world to share one and the same culture? Would a uniform culture not stifle creativity and genius and thus hinder human progress? Rather I choose to believe that it is possible to aim at a world within which common values can be shared while specific cultures develop and in which the specific and the universal can merge and be mutually strengthening and enriching."
