On the night of the 22 May 2008 thousands of people gathered across the Euro-Mediterranean region for a collective series of events taking place simultaneously in 37 different countries, all aiming at the promotion of dialogue between cultures. The Dialogue Night in Alexandria was an initiative of the Alexandria and Mediterranean Research Center and of the Anna Lindh Foundation. It was part of the 1001 Actions Campaign launched by the Anna Lindh Foundation at the start of January 2008: a major campaign to promote intercultural dialogue consisting of one thousand proposed events and activities across the 37 countries of the Euro-Med Partnership including Egypt.

On the southern shore of the Mediterranean, people from across Alexandria gathered in the ancient Qaitbey Fort for a variety of cultural performances all free for the public starting at 18:30pm and lasting until 02:00 am. The audience of Dialogue Night in Alexandria exceeded 1500 persons. They enjoyed diverse performances, all with a Euro-Mediterranean flavor, including a puppet show for children, a break dance show, a Euro-Mediterranean oldies concert and a theatrical play depicting the life style of garbage collectors. Dialogue Night culminated with a concert by the award-winning Egyptian artist Fathy Salama, performing with the Spanish guitarist Fernando Perez and the French saxophonist Florent Cornillet. All through the night an entertainment corner featured spin art, balloon twisting, and origami activities and an exhibition area was available for Egyptian civil society organisations to display their works and materials.