The first World Forum for Democracy, which has already been dubbed the "political Davos," has started in Strasbourg (France).

According to an Interfax-Ukraine reporter, around 1,000 political leaders, public activists, and heads of international organizations are participating in the event. The forum will be covered by more than 150 journalists.

The forum will be held under the slogan "Bridging the gap. Democracy: between old models and new realities."

The first plenary sitting of the forum is entitled "Universal values, global challenges, regional realities." The eminent participants of the first plenary sitting are Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, President of the Republic of Tunisia Moncef Marzouki, and Nobel Peace Prize winner 2011 Tawakkol Karman (Yemen).

The plenary sitting will be followed by a thematic conference entitled "Democracy: a universal value?" Russian writer Boris Akunin among others will deliver a speech at the conference.

A discussion on media responsibility and potential to foster democracy will be held on October 9.

It is expected that journalist Olena Trehub will represent Ukraine at a thematic conference entitled "Participatory democracy: the citizen, an active political actor."

The Council of Europe is the initiator of the forum.