VIENNA: SULTAN AL-TAMIMI ARABNEWS

A view of the participants representing different religions and cultures. (SPA)

Tuesday 27 November 2012

OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu yesterday emphasized the importance of cultural and religious tolerance to promote global peace. “It should be given a prominent place on global agenda,” he said.

Addressing a symposium, the OIC chief said the concept of clash of civilizations had created fears between the East and West. “Our main problem is the lack of knowledge about the other,” he pointed out.

The symposium was organized by the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID) in cooperation with the Turkish Parliament and the European Union.

Ihsanoglu raised the issue of Islamophobia, saying it would contribute to increasing violence and tension. “It’s an abuse of the identity of nations and honor of humanity,” he said, and urged Western countries to resolve the issue by enacting laws and regulations.

He said the Organization of Islamic Cooperation has set up a center to monitor Islamophobia in different parts of the world and appointed a special envoy to deal with the issue.

The symposium was held on the occasion of the center’s opening. Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and senior officials from Austria, Spain and other parts of the world were expected to attend the opening ceremony.

The center is the brainchild of King Abdullah. He started by hosting an emergency Islamic summit in Makkah in 2005 that endorsed interfaith dialogue to redress “the existing lack of mutual understanding among cultures and civilizations”.

“This is an important initiative taken by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, this initiative began on national level with King Abdul Aziz Center For National Dialogue, and then Islamic dialogue, and now on a global level with International Center for Interfaith and Intercultural Dialogue in Vienna,” said the center’s Secretary-General Faisal bin Muaammar.

The king visited Pope Benedict at the Vatican in 2007, a first for a Saudi king.

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