A culture of prevention should be at the centre of the EU's approach to dealing with violent conflict, according to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen.
He said the EU had a "large and well-stocked conflict prevention toolbox" at its disposal, and he proposed the establishment of a specific inventory or catalogue of "conflict prevention tools and resources".
This would be an "enhanced resource base" to help EU presidencies implement conflict prevention priorities and would provide a "clear picture of the facilities and experiences EU member-states, the Commission and the Council Secretariat can apply in the service of conflict prevention".
Mr Cowen was speaking at an EU conference in Helsingborg, Sweden, attended by EU foreign ministers, representatives from the UN, OSCE and NATO and non-governmental organisations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The conference was part of an EU programme for the prevention of violent conflicts. The programme maintains that the development of the European security and defence policy has also been intended to strengthen the EU's capacity for action in conflict prevention.
The Minister told delegates that conflict prevention was of "central importance" as the first anniversary approached of the "terrible attacks perpetrated against the United States and its people".
Talk of a "clash of civilisations" was "unduly simplistic" and implied that certain conflict situations were "just too intractable and too difficult to solve". That was "ill-becoming of our common values and fundamental responsibilities to each other as human beings".
He rejected claims of divergence in the values espoused by Europe and the US and said that, from an Irish perspective, this was contradicted by the experience of the Northern Ireland peace process. There were ongoing differences of opinion and emphasis, but these differences should not be taken out of proportion.
Mr Cowen said that "the challenge that faces us, and one which is particularly important in the context of seeking to prevent conflict, is to show respect for diversity and differing cultural outlooks, while at the same time continuing to assert the universality of the fundamental values which bind us all."
Conflict prevention was a key element of the EU's approach and a vital aspect of the day-to-day business of the EU's common foreign and security policy, he added.