H.E. Dr Seyed Mohammad Khatami

(former President and current Presidential Candidate of Iran)

Our interdependent world creates both new opportunities and new challenges. The gravest danger today is
insecurity, which has taken on global proportions. In order to deal with the threat of this insecurity, it is imperative
for the world community to engage in constructive dialogue, but this must be based on two foundations: a deep
comprehension of civilisations, religions and cultures; and justice. Indeed, in our insecure world, full of extremism
and conflict, only serious dialogue, mutual understanding and justice can generate peace and prosperity.
His Excellency Dr Seyed Mohammad Khatami was the fifth president of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Previously
Minister of Culture, he was elected to the presidency in a landslide election in 1997 and was re-elected in 2001.
President Khatami advanced a reform agenda in Iran and a new era of engagement in foreign affairs. A scholar
of Western as well as Islamic philosophy, he advocated dialogue to counter the ‘clash of civilisations’ thesis and
encouraged the United Nations to proclaim 2001 as the ‘Year of Dialogue Among Civilisations’. He is the author
of numerous books and articles on philosophy and modern Islamic thought, and is a candidate in the upcoming
presidential election of June 2009.

Former Prime Minister of Australia, the Right Honourable Malcolm Fraser ac ch, will give the vote of thanks and
launch Professor Amin Saikal’s book The Rise and Fall of the Shah: Iran from Autocracy to Religious Rule. The book
has a new introduction and preface by Professor Saikal, in which he reflects on what has happened in Iran since the
fall of the Shah and relates Iran’s past to its political present and future.

The Rise and Fall of the Shah: Iran from Autocracy to Religious Rule will be available for sale in the foyer of
Llewellyn Hall.