The third millennium presents for Humanity many uncertainties but also certain opportunities.

Even though we have not yet responded to so many challenges from the past, we are now faced with new problems and worries associated with the conflicting and complex phenomenon called globalisation. Nevertheless, before the 21st century, men and women never had such unlimited access to information, nor have were we able to make use of so many resources and possibilities to build our future or keep the promises of happiness that poets foretold.

Culture and the city are the two key concepts we need to focus on in order to attain this goal. The idea of culture in its widest sense has prospered so well that not only does it refer to literary, artistic or intellectual work, or to systems of values and beliefs, but also to our general way of life.

Today when we talk about culture, we talk about a huge, open, multifaceted reality which sets in motion processes in which the new communication and information technologies play a key role.

In the constant battle between tradition and innovation, played out on the individual, social, local and global arenas, culture is nowadays considered to be a creative umbrella covering not only all kinds of attitudes, behaviours and values but also the right conditions for environmentally-friendly sustainable development, job creation, gender equality and social cohesion.

The city, that complex network of relationships and values where past and future, tradition and change, memory and desire all meet together, is, above all, a meeting place and a living space where, from the point of view of the democratic principles of citizenship, identity and diversity have to mutually respect one another. The city has always contributed to integration whilst respecting differences and has promoted development and progress without renouncing its roots. Therefore, culture and the city are two inevitable reference points when the conservation of our historical heritage is closely linked to its growth, and culture sees itself as a guarantor of democratic pluralism, as a strategic goal in the city’s development and as a key element in the foundation of a citizens’ Europe.

On the threshold of a new century, Córdoba is faced with an exceptional and inevitable challenge. Cordoba was once a Roman Patrician colony and capital of the Umayyad caliphate, a city where three cultures lived together, a city which provided Europe with its own legacy during the Renaissance and Baroque periods, and has now been declared a World Heritage Site due to the wealth of its historical heritage. It can not shirk the challenges that the modern world presents it or refuse to reach out to the future. All this is embodied in the citizens’ initiative, approved by an agreement of the Plenary Council, to launch an ambitious project that aims to stand Cordoba in good stead to become European Capital of Culture 2016.

We have nine years at our disposal in order to stand for election as European Capital of Culture, and we are delighted to have the unanimous backing of several different sectors and citizens’ groups, along with support from other cities and important personalities.

In order to attain this goal, we will have to make good use of all our hard work and creative skills so that this initiative becomes a future project, that is to say, a sign of identity for Córdoba in the Third Millennium.

This will be a project that takes on and modernises our unique contribution to the common history of Europe: dialogue and coexistence between different cultures, thus helping to improve Andalusia’s role as an important springboard for cultural encounter between Europe and the rest of the world.

This project has a promising future, which has been firmly established thanks to the integrity of the wishes, co-operation and commitment of the people of Cordoba. We were all very proud to see Cordoba being declared a World Heritage Site on 15th December 1994. Such recognition confirmed the unquestionable value of the past and the immortal memory of our city. Eight years later, we now have a great chance to expand those horizons in order to commit ourselves firmly to the future and take all the necessary steps to help Cordoba’s wish come true: to be European Capital of Culture 2016.

Cordoba, 13th December 2002