The tenth regular session of the Secretariat of the Congress chaired by Speaker of the Senate of the Parliament, Head of the Secretariat of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions Kairat Mami was opened today in Astana, in the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation.
Welcoming the participants of the meeting, K. Mami expressed appreciation to the heads of delegations for their constant and active participation in the Congress of religious leaders.
As the speaker noted, since the previous Congress some events occurred in the world that significantly complicated the international situation, including in respect of religious tolerance and interfaith concord.
“The wave of instability, that swept the African continent and the Middle East, terrorist attacks in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, floods and hurricanes in the U.S. and Australia, led to a huge disaster for many millions of people”, - said K. Mami.
As the speaker said, these events demonstrated the urgent need for unity of all people of goodwill to strengthen their cooperation for the sake of building the world based on concord, friendship, mutual respect and support, rejection of violence and intolerance.
Noting the important role of the interreligious and intercultural dialogue in the process, K. Mami said that “Kazakhstan has been always acting as a strong supporter of development and expansion of interaction between civilizations, religions, deepening cooperation and global cultural exchange”.
“In order to promote the initiative of President Nursultan Nazarbayev to convene the Congress of religious leaders, we intend to strengthen cooperation of the forum with the UN in order to use the opportunity the world's main platform for delivering inspiring ideas of the Congress to the peoples and the political leadership of their countries all around the world”, - said the speaker.
K. Mami also noted that as a part of its participation in the Troika of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Chairmanship in the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) the course on deepening mutual understanding and cooperation between Muslim countries and Western countries will be continued.
According to him, undeniable prospects for enhancing the dialogue are contained in the cultural and human dimension of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and other regional organizations.
The draft concept of the Council of Religious Leaders form the Concept of the Council of Religious Leaders was discussed in the course of the session, the date of the IV Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions was considered. Another spiritual forum is to be held in Astana on May 30-31, 2012.
Press Service of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan
