Secretariat

 On October 8, 2024 in Astana under the chairmanship of the Chairman of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan - Head of the Secretariat of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions Maulen Ashimbayev the XXII Session of the Secretariat of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions was held.

The session was attended by:

Representatives of Islam:

Abdelrahman Moussa – Head of the Office of Sheikh Al-Azhar, Ambassador (Egypt).

Abdel Aziz bin Ahmad Sarhan – Special Envoy of the World Islamic League, Doctor (KSA).

Jeyhun Rustamov – Representative of the Chairman of the Caucasus Muslims Board, Regional Commissioner of the Caucasus Muslims Board (Azerbaijan).

Ahmad Bin Abdullah Alfars – Assistant Deputy Minister of Islamic Affairs, Call and Guidance of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Doctor (KSA).

Osama Fakhry – Head of the Central Department for Mosques and Holy Quran Affairs of the Ministry of Awqaf of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Doctor (Egypt).

Ali Akbar Ziaei – Head of the Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue of the Organization for Culture and Islamic Relations of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Doctor. (Iran).

Muhammad Zia Ul-Haq – Director General, Institute of Islamic Studies, International Islamic University Islamabad, Doctor (Pakistan).

Representatives of Christianity:

Nektarios – Bishop of Jerusalem Orthodox Church, Archbishop of Anthedona, Representative of Jerusalem Patriarchate in Istambul (Türkiye).

Ilia Kashitsyn – Secretary for Interreligious Relations of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Executive Secretary of the Interreligious Council of Russia, priest (Russia).

Khaled Akasheh – Bureau Chief for Islam of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue of the Holy See, Monsignor (Vatican).

Yuriy Novgorodov – Representative of the Lutheran World Federation, Archbishop Emeritus of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Jo Bailey Wells – Deputy General Secretary of the Anglican Communion, Bishop for Episcopal Ministry of the Anglican Communion (Great Britain).

Representatives of Buddhism:

Zheng Ci, Vice President of the Association of Buddhists of China, President of the Buddhist Association of Hubei Province (China).

Arifeen Yama, Representative of the World Community of Buddhists, Doctor (Thailand).

Moon Jong, Director of the Department of Missionary Research of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism (Republic of Korea).

Bayar Enkhbold, Monk of the Administration of Gandan Tegchenling Monastery of the Mongolian Buddhist Center (Mongolia).

Representative of Hinduism:

Abhishek Ghosh – Dean of Faculty for Dharma studies at Somaiya Vidyavihar University, Professor (India).

Representative of Taoism:

Zhang Xingfa – Professor of the Teaching and Research Department of the Chinese College of Taoism (China).

Representative of Shintoism:

Shinsaku Mitsui – Director of External Relations Department, Jinja Honcho Association (Japan).

Representative of the Bahá'ís:

David Rutstein – General Secretary of the Bahá'í World Community, Doctor (Israel).

Representatives of international organizations:

Mohamed Abdelsalam – Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Elders (UAE).

Mohammed Ali Al-Ghamdi –  Vice-Chairman of the Doha International Center for Interreligious Dialogue (Qatar).

Honored Guest:

Afra Mohammed Alsaabri - Director General of the UAE Ministry of Tolerance and Peaceful Coexistence (UAE).

Representatives of religious associations of Kazakhstan:

Nauryzbay Haji Taganuly – the Grand Mufti and Chairman of the Muslim Spiritual Board of Kazakhstan.

Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen, Administrator of the Affairs Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan.

Tomash Bernard Peta – Archbishop-Metropolitan of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Mary in Astana.

Shmuel Karnaukh – Director of the Jewish Community of Astana local religious association.

Representatives of the Republic of Kazakhstan:

Maulen Ashimbayev – Chairman of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Head of the Secretariat of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.

Aida Balayeva – Minister of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Akan Rakhmetullin – First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Deputy Head of the Secretariat of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.

Kanat Iskakov – Vice-Minister of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Deputy Head of the Secretariat of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.

Dianna Yessenova, Acting Chairman of the Board of the N.Nazarbayev Center for Development of Interfaith and Intercivilizational Dialogue.

During the XXII Session of the Congress Secretariat, the following Agenda was approved:

1. Promotion of the Development Concept of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions for 2023-2033.
2. Approval of the Regulation on the Status of “Goodwill Ambassador of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions”.
3. Election of Goodwill Ambassadors of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.
4. Holding of the first Forum of Young Religious Leaders.
5. Definition of the key topic of the Plenary Session of the VIII Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions and topics of Panel Sessions.
6. Determination of the dates of the VIII Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions and the XXIII Session of the Secretariat of the Congress.
7. Adoption of the Minutes of the XXII Session of the Secretariat of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.

During the Session of the XXII Congress Secretariat a fruitful and constructive exchange of views on all items of the Agenda took place.

All members of the Secretariat participated in the speeches and discussions on the above issues.

Taking into account the proposals of the participants of the XXII Session of the Congress Secretariat, the following decisions were made:

1. To take into account the information on promotion of the Concept of development of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions for the period from 2023 to 2033.

To strengthen cooperation of the Secretariat of the Congress and its working body - the N. Nazarbayev Center for the development of inter-confessional and inter-civilization dialogue with reputable international organizations and various centers in order to promote key provisions of the Concept of Development of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.

2. To approve the Regulations on granting the status of Goodwill Ambassador of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.

3. To elect the following dignitaries as Goodwill Ambassadors of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions:

Theophilos III – His Beatitude, the Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem and all of Palestine, Syria, Arabia, Obonpol of the Jordan, Cana of Galilee and Holy Zion.

Joe Bailey Wells – Deputy General Secretary of the Anglican Communion, Bishop for Episcopal Ministries of the Anglican Communion.

Thich Duc Thien – General Secretary, Vice Chairman of the Executive Council of the Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha.

Mohammed Abdelsalam – General Secretary of the Muslim Council of Elders.

Dimash Kudaibergen – Kazakh singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist. People's Artist of Kazakhstan.

4. To take into account the information on holding the first Forum of Young Religious Leaders.

5. To define the theme of the plenary session of the VIII Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in the formulation: DIALOGUE OF RELIGIONS: SYNERGY FOR THE FUTURE.

To determine the following topics of the panel sessions of the VIII Congress:

Session 1: XXI century: the role of religions in consolidation of the humanity.

Session 2: Religions as the factor of sustainable development of the world.

Session 3: Spiritual values in the age of digital reality and artificial intelligence.

Session 4: Faith against extremism.

6. To convene the VIII Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions on September 17-18, 2025 in Astana.

To hold the XXIII Session of the Secretariat of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions on September 16, 2025.

In order to qualitatively prepare the XXIII Session of the Secretariat of the Congress on September 15, 2025 to hold a regular Session of the Working Group of the Secretariat.

7. To accept the Minutes of the XXII Session of the Secretariat of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.

8. To inform leaders of world and traditional religions and other prominent religious figures about the adopted decisions.

Done in Astana on October 8, 2024 in one original copy in Kazakh, Russian, English, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Farsi languages, where all language versions of the document are equally valid.

The Minutes shall be kept at the headquarters of the Secretariat of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions - N. Nazarbayev Center for the Development of Interfaith and Inter-civilization Dialogue, which will send to each Party its certified copy.

Republic of Kazakhstan, Astana,

October 8, 2024

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