On November 12, in the city of Nur-Sultan, the annual international online conference "Tolerance is the basis of world civilization" was held, timed to coincide with the International Day of Tolerance. The conference was attended by Vice Minister of Information and Social Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan Marat Azilkhanov, Chairman of the Board of the Nursultan Nazarbayev Center for the Development of Interfaith and Intercivilizational Dialogue Altai Abibullaev, Director of the UNESCO Almaty Office Christa Pikkat, Head of the UN Department of Global Communications Vlastimil Samek, Chairman of the International Center Interreligious Dialogue Organization for Cultural and Islamic Relations of the Islamic Republic of Iran Mohammed Mehdi Tashiri, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Elders of the UAE Sultan Faisal Remeiti, as well as other international experts from the USA, UAE, Jordan, Uzbekistan, representatives of the diplomatic corps, the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan, scientific expert community, civil society institutions. During the conference, an exchange of views took place on issues of tolerance, interethnic peace and interfaith harmony in the country and in the world. Speaking with a welcoming speech to the conference participants, Vice Minister of Information and Social Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Commissioner for promoting the goals and objectives of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, National Coordinator of the UN Alliance of Civilizations in the Republic of Kazakhstan Marat Azilkhanov noted that Kazakhstan is an active supporter of interfaith and intercivilizational dialogue, in every possible way contributes to the promotion of the ideas of tolerance in the world.
This vivid example is the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, held since 2003 on a regular basis in the capital of Kazakhstan. In her speech, Mrs. Christa Pikkat, Director of the UNESCO Office in Almaty noted that “tolerance is really a state of mind, awareness, it is cultural diversity, a form of wealth, and not a factor of division”. “Today Kazakhstan, like the rest of the world, is fighting the coronavirus pandemic and is negatively influenced by the global economic environment. In addition, the realities of the growing manifestation of intolerance, the development of extremism, the spread of radicalism and violence all over the world require strengthening of human interaction on tolerance issues. It should be noted that the N. Nazarbayev Center strengthens ties with the UN in order to achieve and apply the most effective methods of interaction to promote interreligious and intercivilizational dialogue in the global world. A partnership agreement was signed with the UN Alliance of Civilizations.
Currently, the Center is actively working on legal institutionalization and registration in the UN system, ”said Altai Abibullaev, Chairman of the Board of the Nursultan Nazarbayev Center for Development of Interfaith and Intercivilizational Dialogue. In his speech, Dr. Selim Argun, Deputy Chairman of the Office of Religious Affairs of Turkey, stressed that tolerance is the value between patience and acceptance. "We must focus on how to ensure that a culture of tolerance prevails in our societies, jointly drawing on the positive experiences we have accumulated in the past and present." In general, the participants of the event proposed new progressive ideas aimed at promoting the ideas of tolerance, peace, spiritual harmony, solidarity in the international community. Recall that on November 16, 1995, the UNESCO member states adopted the Declaration of Principles on Tolerance, in 1996 the UN General Assembly proposed annually celebrating November 16 as the International Day dedicated to tolerance.
