On 20 November, a group of some well-known Egyptian scholars and thinkers met with Professor Constantin von Barloewen at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. They discussed the understanding of progress in different cultures of the world, especially the Arab World.

This symposium focused on reaching an Arabic definition of progress. Leading intellectuals from different academic backgrounds gathered together in the cities of Alexandria, La Paz, Calcutta, and Windhoek to discuss the understanding of progress from their own cultural perspectives. The results of these meetings were presented in a final conference in Berlin in December 2004. The aim of this final conference was to inform policy makers and a wider public in Germany about the different concepts of progress.

The symposium held in Alexandria aimed at initiating the subsequent meetings in Bolivia, India, Namibia and Germany. Its target was to provide a broad overview about the concept of progress in the Arab world and a greater understanding between cultures in our globalized world.