KAZAKHSTAN, FROM TOMORROW IN ASTANA III CONGRESS OF WORLD LEADERS

An exchange of opinions on the problems of today’s world to offer ideas for inter-religious reconciliation in specific countries as well as providing considerations and advice: this is the purpose of the III Congress of the World and Traditional Religious Leaders that will be opening tomorrow in Astana, Kazakhstan (until July 2nd). The meeting will be attended by delegations of several world religions, guests of honours and members of international agencies (UN, OECD and Unesco). “The role of religious leaders in the building of a tolerant world, in the age of globalisation”, will be the subject of the first day of the meeting, which will be held on a plenary basis. Moral and cultural wealth and world ethics; dialogue and cooperation; solidarity, especially at a time of crisis, are the three topics that will be addressed on July 2nd in three separate sessions. As to the Christian world, delegations of the Catholic, Anglican and Russian Orthodox Churches, the Orthodox Church of Constantinople, the Rumanian Orthodox Church, both Armenian Apostolic Churches and the World Lutheran Federation, will all be there. The Vatican delegation will be led by card. Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Papal Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue. The Anglican Church will be represented by bishop Nicholas Baines. The delegation of the Church of Constantinople will be led by the metropolitan bishop of France. Guests at the Congress will also include Ishmael Noko, secretary general of the World Lutheran Federation, and the secretary general of the World Lutheran Union. Islam will be represented by delegations from Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Turkey, Libya, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, China, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, United States, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Other guests will include Sheik Mohammed Sayed al Tantawi (supreme imam of the university of Al-Azhar) and Mohamed Ahmed Sherif (secretary general of the World Islamic Call Society). Judaism will be represented by Yona Metzger, Ashkenazi Rabbi of Israel, and Shlomo Amar, his Sephardic counterpart. Buddhist delegations will come from China, Mongolia, Japan, Thailand and South Korea; as well as representatives of Shinto, Hinduism, Taoism and Zoroastrianism. A final document will be drawn up, for adoption by all participants. The presentation of the 2009 Congress, under the aegis of the United Nations, began after last year’s president Nazarbayev’s speech to the UN General Assembly. Kazakhstan, a release states, “over the last few years has developed an exclusive spiritual platform for inter-religious dialogue. The need and importance of reconciliation among different faiths are recognised by many religious figures, who are adopting specific guidelines to achieve such goal”.

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