The VII Session of the Secretariat of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions presided over by H.E. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Head of the Secretariat of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, Chairman of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, was held on October 28-29, 2008.
The Session was attended by:
REPRESENTATIVES OF ISLAM
Muhammad Ahmad Osman Ben Taher - Professor of the College of Propaganda of Islam, Libya;
Mohamad Iqbal Sullam - Deputy Secretary General of the Muslim organization Nadlatul Ulama, Indonesia;
Mohammed al Sakkar Mahmood - Advisor of the Secretary General of the Muslim World League;
Alturki Majed Abdulaziz - Advisor to the Minister of Islamic Affairs, Waqfs and Propaganda of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia;
Shama Mohammed Abdel Ghani Morsi - Advisor to the Minister of Awqafs and Islamic Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt;
Ul-Haq Muhammad Zia - Professor of the International Islamic University of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan;
Rasoulipour Rasoul Alimohammad - Director of the General Center for Dialogue of Religions, Islamic Culture and Relations Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran;
Sayed Javad Jalali - Expert of the Center for Dialogue of Religions of the Culture and Islamic Relations Organization;
Mohammad Umar Gautam - Professor of Islamic Studies Department, Director of the Markazul Maarif Education Center, Jamia Millia Islamia University, India;
Mohammed Obaid Al-Mazrouei - Deputy Chief Director of the General Agency of Islamic Affairs and Awqafs of the United Arab Emirates;
Shehhi Taleb Mohamed - Head of the Propaganda Department of the General Agency for Islamic Affairs and Awqaf of the United Arab Emirates;
Kalizhan Zankoev - Head Imam of Nur-Astana Central Mosque, representative of Ecclesiastic Directorate of Muslims of Kazakhstan.
REPRESENTATIVES OF CHRISTIANITY
Khaled Akasheh - Bureau Chief for Islam of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious dialogue of the Holy See, Vatican;
Roshchin Georgy - Priest, employee of the External Department of the Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate;
Novgorodov Yuri - Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Kazakhstan;
Nicholas Baines - Bishop of Croydon, the Church of England, representative of the World Lutheran Federation;
Marcos Hovanesyan - Bishop, Gegharkunik Diocese;
Emmanuel Adamakis - Metropolitan, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople;
Shanta Premavardhan - Director of Inter-Religious Dialogue and Cooperation of the World Council of Churches.
REPRESENTATIVES OF BUDDHISM
Shi Zengqin - Permanent member of the Buddhist Association, Shaanxi province;
Wang Li - Employee of the International Department of the Buddhist Association of China;
Luvsanjamts Davaanyam - Member of the Mongolian Buddhists Gandantegchenling Monastery, Head of "Asian Buddhists' Association"
Phrakhrupalad Suvathanavachirakhun - Director of Buddist research Institute, Thailand;
Pramaha Srithon Sukhes - Director of Information Technology, Thailand;
Chang Young-Dong - Director of the Department for social issues of the Chogechon Buddhist Organization, South Korea;
Yang Ki Hoon - Representative of Chogechon Buddhist Organization in Central Asia, Tashkent.
REPRESENTATIVES OF JUDAISM
Elkana Holzer - Representative of the Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Israel;
Meir Danino - Representative of the Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel.
REPRESENTATIVE OF SHINTOISM
Katsuji Iwahashi - Senior specialist of the Department of International Cooperation of the Association of Shinto Shrines, Japan.
REPRESENTATIVE OF TAOISM
Feng He - Researcher of the National Taoist Association.
REPRESENTATIVE OF HINDUISM
Kala Dhananjaya Acharya - Director of the Research Institute for Indian Culture "Somaiya Bharatiya Sanskriti Peetham", India
REPRESENTATIVES OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Stein Villumstad - Deputy Secretary General of the World Religion for Peace Conference, United States;
Ruth Turner - Executive Director of Tony Blair Faith Foundation;
Kate Holden - Assistant Executive Director of Tony Blair Faith Foundation;
Agit Yogasundram - Representative of the United Nations Department of the Economic and Social Affairs.
MEMBERS OF WORKING GROUP
Nurlan Danenov - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
Ardak Doszhan - Chairman of the Committee on Religious Affairs of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
Doulat Kuanyshev - Ambassador at Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
INVITED GUESTS
Miguel Maury Buendia - Apostolic Nuncio in the Republic of Kazakhstan;
Ahmed Ben Hamed Al-Mahrisi - Ambassador of the Sultanate of Oman in the Republic of Kazakhstan;
Bishop Janusz Kaleta - Apostolic Administrator of Atyrau city;
Mohsin Muzafar Nakvi - Member of the Islamic Ideology Council of Pakistan;
Inam Ullah - Researcher of the Islamic ideology Council of Pakistan;
Archpriest Andrei Litovko - Secretary of the Eparchy, Representative of Mitropolit of Astana and Almaty Mefody;
Boris Manoilenko - Representative of the Chief Rabbi of Kazakhstan.
The following agenda of the session of the Secretariat was approved:
- To discuss and define the theme and agenda of the III Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions;
- To determine the date of the III Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions;
- To determine the date of the VIII Secretariat of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions;
- To adopt the protocol of the VII Secretariat of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.
A fruitful exchange of views on all items of the agenda took place during the Session of the Secretariat. All members of the Secretariat participated in the discussions of above mentioned issues.
Taking into consideration the proposals of the Secretariat session participants the following decisions were taken:
I. To determine July 1-2, 2009 as the dates of the Third Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.
II. To define the theme: «The role of religious leaders in building a world of tolerance, mutual respect and cooperation» as a overarching theme of the Third Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.
III. To determine the following topics of group sessions:
- Moral and spiritual values;
- Justice, peace and security;
- Environment and harmony;
- Dialogue and cooperation;
- Solidarity, especially in times of crises.
IV. To determine June 29-30, 2009 as the dates of the VIII Session of the Secretariat of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Astana.
V. To inform the religious leaders about the decisions taken.
