First of all, I would like to say thank you for inviting me here to Paris, to this Leadership Conference. I am honoured to share a few of my thoughts on this important issue of the family. Through my work with the Family Forum and also being a partner in the Austrian Family Network, I feel that family is the key factor for human development to create a culture of peace. Having visited different countries in Europe and beyond, I learned that family is of great importance in the life of people in the East and in the West, and so, I maintain, that family is the primary vehicle of rapprochement.