The XVII Session of the Secretariat of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions presided over by Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Head of the Secretariat of the Congress of the Leaders of the World and Traditional Religions, Chairman of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, was held on October 9, 2018.
The Session was attended by:
REPRESENTATIVES OF ISLAM
Abdelrahman Moussa - Advisor for International Affairs to the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar;
Monqith Mahmood al-Sakkar - Advisor of the Department of International Organizations and Conferences of the Muslim World League;
Abdullah Fahad Al-Lheedan - Advisor to the Minister of Islamic Affairs, Waqfs and Conscription of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia;
Muhammad Mahdi Tashiri - Chairman of the Center for Religious Harmony of the Organization for Cultural and Islamic Relations of the Islamic Republic of Iran;
Muhammad Zia-Ul-Haq - Director General of the Institute for the Islamic Research of the International Islamic University in Islamabad;
Muhammad Shahhat Al-Jindi - Representative of the Minister for Waqf Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Rector of the Nur-Mubarak Kazakh-Egyptian University of Islamic Culture, doctor, professor.
REPRESENTATIVES OF CHRISTIANITY
Dimitry Safonov - Executive Secretary of the Interreligious Council of Russia, Secretary for Interreligious Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, priest;
Markos Hovhannisyan - Bishop, Head of the Armenian Diocese of Ukraine, the Armenian Church;
Khaled Akasheh - Bureau Chief for Islam, Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Vatican;
Yuriy Novgorodov - Representative of the Lutheran World Federation, Bishop of the Еvangelical Lutheran Church in Kazakhstan;
Richard Atkinson - Bishop of Bedford, the Church of England.
REPRESENTATIVE OF JUDAISM
Shlomo Menachem Kook – Representative of the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel.
REPRESENTATIVES OF BUDDHISM
Thanes Sucharikul - Advisor to the President of the World Fellowship of Buddhists, Thailand;
Wang Li – Deputy Head of the International Department of the Buddhist Association of China;
Byambajav Khunkhur - Da Lama of the Gandan Tegchenling Monastery;
Yang Ki-Hoon – Director of Permanent representative Office of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism in Central Asia.
REPRESENTATIVE OF TAOISM
Yang Shihua - Deputy Secretary General of the Chinese Taoist Association
REPRESENTATIVE OF HINDUISM
Kala Dhananjay Acharya – Director of the Indian Culture Centre “K.J.Somaiya Bharatiya Sanskriti Peetham”.
REPRESENTATIVE OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION
Hanifa Mezoui - Senior Advisor, Humanitarian Affairs and Civil Society, United Nations Alliance of Civilizations.
REPRESENTATIVES OF RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION OF KAZAKHSTAN
Serikbai Kazhy Oraz - Chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kazakhstan, Supreme Mufti;
Alexander - Head of the Metropolitan District of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Republic of Kazakhstan, Metropolitan of Astana and Kazakhstan;
Tomasz Peta – Archbishop, Metropolitan of the Archdiocese of Holy Mary in Astana, President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Kazakhstan;
Yeshaya Elazar Kogen - Chief Rabbi of Kazakhstan.
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN
Darkhan Kaletaev - Minister of Public Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Berik Aryn –Vice Minister of Religious Affairs and Civil Society of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Commissioner for the Promotion of the Goals of the Congress;
Yerzhan Ashikbayev – Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Deputy Head of the Secretariat of the Congress.
At the XVII Session of the Secretariat of the Congress the following agenda was approved:
- About the composition of the Council of Religious Leaders.
- Approval the Agenda for the Third Meeting of the Council of Religious Leaders.
- Approval the Agenda of the VI Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.
- Approval of the moderators and speakers of breakout sessions of the VI Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.
- Approval of the draft Final Document (Declaration) by the participants of the VI Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.
- Determining the dates of the XVIII Session of the Secretariat of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.
- Determining the date and venue of the VII Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.
- Adoption of the Minutes of the XVII Session of the Secretariat of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.
At the XVII Session of the Secretariat of the Congress participants had fruitful exchange of views and opinions on issues of the Agenda. All participants of the Session of the Secretariat took part in discussions on the above-mentioned issues.
The following decisions were taken based on the suggestions of the participants of the XVII Session of the Secretariat of the Congress:
- To include the newly elected religious leaders of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and Taoism:
- His Excellency Ahmed Mohamed Ahmed el-Tayeb, Supreme Imam of Al-Azhar;
- His Excellency Dr. Abdulrahman Abdullah Al-Zaid, Deputy Secretary General of the Muslim World League;
- His Excellency Ali Erbas, President of Religious Affairs of Turkey;
- His Excellency Serikbay Kazhy Oraz, Chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kazakhstan, Supreme Mufti;
His Holiness Theophilos III, Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem and all Palestine;
- His Eminence Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, Cardinal;
- His Eminence Archbishop Urmas Vilma, Vice-President of the Lutheran World Federation for Central Eastern Europe, Archbishop;
- His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion, Сhairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate;
- His Excellency David Lau, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel;
- His Grace Choijiljav Dambajav, Vice President of the World Fellowship of Buddhists, Head Lama of the Tashi Choi Ling Monastery;
- His Grace Chun Yi, Deputy Chairman of the Buddhist Association of China;
- His Excellency Li Guangfu, Chairman of the Taoist Association of China.
- To approve the Agenda of the Third meeting of the Council of Religious Leaders.
- To approve the Agenda of the VI Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.
- To approve the list of moderators and speakers of breakout sessions of the VI Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.
- To approve the draft Declaration of the participants of the VI Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.
- To hold the XVIII Session of the Secretariat of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in September 2019.
In order to effectively preparation to the XVIII Session of the Secretariat and approval the final documents and decisions of the VI Congress, to hold the meeting of the Working Group on the eve of the Secretariat.
- To hold the VII Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Astana in 2021.
- To adopt the Minutes of the XVII Session of the Secretariat of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.
- To inform the religious leaders about the decisions taken.
