LAHORE: A two-day Lahore International Cultural Conference (LICC) 2016 concluded on Thursday with pledge to bridge gaps through cultural collaborations and diplomacy. The conference was jointly organised by the Youth Revolution Clan (YRC), Australian High Commission, City District Government Lahore (CDGL) and The Urban Unit, government of the Punjab. The conference was first of its kind in which delegates from some 10 countries discussed a variety of themes in different panel discussions, round tables and lectures. A large number of participants from academia, media, government departments, non-government organisations (NGOs) and civil society attended the event. In the two-day conference, Australian High Commissioner Margaret Adamson, Cultural Invasion Australia CEO Peter Mousefardis, Cultural Invasion Australia member Nivy Balchandran, MNA Shaista Pervaiz, renowned anchor Sohail Warraich, Lahore Commissioner Abdullah Sumbul, Protcol DG, Education Minister Rana Mashhood and renowned artist Saleema Hashmi also spoke. The theme of the conference was ‘Portraying a positive Pakistan’. The participants emphasised the need to arrange such dialogues regularly at different levels. They said, “The conference gave us a change to effectively collaborate for human development, peace, justice and a progressive world above all. Such a dialogue can encourage us to explore together the means of developing better communities.” Speaking on the closing ceremony, The Urban Unit CEO Dr Nasir Javed said that the platform had brought a number of individuals and organisations together from a variety of countries, cultures and civilisations across the world, and gave us an opportunity to decide mode of collaborations and partnerships between like-minded organisations and movements.” “For us cities are places where citizens live, so these are more than structures, a wonderful mixture of modernised buildings and rich cultural heritage we inherit from our forefathers.” The Urban Unit feels proud to have partnered with the YRC and others for organising the first Lahore International Cultural Conference 2016, he added. A special exhibition of paintings, sent by the Army Public School Peshawar students, was also arranged during the event, which was appreciated by the participants. Next edition of the LICC would be held in Australia in 2017.