The XII Session of the Secretariat of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions presided over by Kairat Mami, 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 September 25, 2013.
The Session was attended by:
REPRESENTATIVES OF ISLAM
Majed Abdulaziz Al-Turki – General Secretary of the Conference of Ministers of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia;
Sheikh-ul-Islam Gaji Allahshukyur Pashe-Zade – Head of the Administration of Muslims of Caucasus, Azerbaijan;
Hasan Kamil Yilmaz – Deputy Chairman of the Office of Religious Affairs of Turkey;
Chen Yulong – Deputy Head of the International Cooperation Department of the Muslim Association of China;
Mahmoud Fahmi Higazi – Rector of the Kazakh-Egyptian-Islamic University Nur, representative of Minister of wakufs of the Arab Republic of Egypt;
Ali Mohammad Helmi – Director of the Center for Interreligious Dialogue, of the Islamic Republic of Iran;
Mohammad Zia-Ul-Haq – Dean of the Faculty of Shariah and Law, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan;
Mohammad Umar Gautam – Chairman of the Islamic Center of «Islamic Da'wah Centre» (IDC), India.
REPRESENTATIVES OF CHRISTIANITY
Khaled Akasheh – Bureau Chief for Islam, Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue of the Holy See, Vatican;
Emmanuel Adamakis – Metropolitan of France;
Yuri Novgorodov - Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kazakhstan, representative of the Lutheran World Federation;
Sergi Matiushin – Expert of the Department for Cooperation of Church and Society of the Moscow Patriarchate, priest of Russian Federation.
REPRESENTATIVES OF BUDDHISM
Wang Li - Deputy Head of International Department of the Buddhist Association of China;
Yang Ki Hoon - Representative of Buddhist Organization “Chogechon” in Central Asia;
Gankhuyag Magsarjay - Vice-Rector of the Undur Gegeen Zanabazar Buddhist UniversityMongolia).
REPRESENTATIVE OF TAOISM
Li Shuang - Officer of the International Department of Chinese Taoist Association.
REPRESENTATIVE OF HINDUISM
Kala Dhananjay Acharya – Director of the Research Institute for Indian culture, «K.J. Somaiya Bharatiya Sanskriti Peetham», India.
HONORABLE GUESTS
Jean-Louis Tauran – Chairman of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Cardinal-archdeacon, Vatican;
Samir Shantilal Somaiya – Chairman of the Institute on the study of Indology, and inter-religious dialogue “Somaiya Vidyavihar”;
Homi Dhalla – President of the World Council of Cultural Heritage of Zarathushtra India;
Ravil Gainutdin – Chairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Chairman of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of the European part of Russia.
SPECIALLY INVITED GUESTS
Mayamerov Yerzhan Malgajyuly - The Supreme Mufti, Chairman of the Spiritual Board of Kazakhstan Muslims;
Tomash Peta - Archbishop of Astana and President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Kazakhstan;
Gennadyi - Bishop of Kaskelen, Head of affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN
Baglan Mailybaev – Deputy Head of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, deputy Head of the Secretariat of the Congress;
Rapil Zhoshybaev – First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Deputy Head of the Secretariat;
Kairat Lama Sharif – Chairman of the Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for religious affairs;
Jandos Asanov – Deputy Head of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
Aydar Abuov - Director of the International Center of Cultures and Religions;
Karlygash Kalilakhanova - Deputy Director of the International Center of Cultures and Religions.
The following agenda of the session of the Secretariat was approved:
- Exchange of ideas on the achievements of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.
- Cooperation of the Secretariat of the Congress with the international institutions, which promote dialogue among religions and civilizations.
- Proposals on the V Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions (themes of the Plenary and Panel sessions, data and venue).
- Approval of the date of the XIII Session of the Secretariat.
- Adoption of the Minutes of the XII Session of the Secretariat of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.
A fruitful exchange of views on the agenda took place at the meeting of the Working Group of the Secretariat of the Congress.
All members of the Working Group were involved in the discussion of the above mentioned issues.
At the end of the discussion, the participants at the meeting decided as follows:
I. To take note of the proposals of the members of the Congress Secretariat on the outcome and effects of the IV Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions as well as promotion of goals and tasks of the Congress.
II. To enhance the work of the Congress Secretariat with academic circles, educational institutions and representatives of various organizations with aim to share and disseminate the experience of Kazakhstan and its Leader in promoting the interfaith dialogue.
III. To increase the activity of the Congress Secretariat in promoting inter-religious dialogue and mutual cooperation for the sake of maintaining of peace and harmony in the societies and the states.
IV. To identify the theme of the V Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions as “Religion and sustainable development” and to continue discussion of all the proposals on the theme of panel sessions of the V Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions so as to finalize the subject at the next XIII session of the Secretariat in 2014.
V. To continue discussion of all the proposals on the exact date and venue of the V Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions so as to finalize the issue at the next XIII session of the Secretariat in 2014.
VI. To hold the XIII session of the Secretariat on September 17-18 (Wednesday-Thursday), 2014 in Astana.
VII. To inform members of the Council of religious leaders as well as other eminent religious representatives of these decisions.
