ABSTRACT
I think at this stage, as a kind of introduction to this discussion, it is appropriate to ask: What did we try to accomplish in this conference, what did we accomplish, what is left to be accomplished for the future? What are the issues on which we should draw conclusions and, if possible, give recommendations? In my letter of invitation I asked the questions: What do we expect from each other in the West and in the East? What could be done, in the long run, to avoid crises and improve cooperation under existing perceptions? We cannot expect to change the perceptions so easily. So we must live with the existing perceptions and see what we can do under them. But, of course, we can also ask: In what respect are the relative weights of these perceptions changing? It is true that a person will not easily change his perceptions, but new persons are coming, old persons are dying or retiring. So the relative weights of perceptions do change.
