By Ramesh Mathew/Staff Reporter
More than 300 delegates from over 75 countries will attend different sessions of the Doha International Centre for Inter-Faith Dialogue’s 10th annual conference starting at Ritz-Carlton Doha tomorrow.
Doha International Centre for Inter-Faith Dialogue chairman Prof Ibrahim al-Naimi said yesterday the annual dialogue had attracted worldwide attention over the years and it had been successful in bringing together on a single platform an array of representatives of different faiths all along.
“As the dialogue is held for the 10th successive year, its significance is growing across the world and it is evident from the growing numbers of participants from different parts of the world,” said al-Naimi.
Held under the patronage of Minister of Justice HE Hassan bin Abdullah al-Ghanem, this year’s conference is spread over three days and covers a number of sessions, involving the participation of representatives of Christian, Muslim and Jewish faiths.
Among those attending the dialogue this year are the representative of Pope Francis and deputy president of the Political Council for Inter-Religious dialogue Fr Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot, executive director of the Latin American Jewish Congress Claudio Gregario Epelmen and Qatar-based Islamic scholar Dr Ali M A al-Quaradaghi and Alliance of Civilisations president Nasr Abdelaziz al-Nasr.
At the conference, an international award would be announced for an individual who has contributed to strengthening the cause of the inter-faith dialogues at the global level. “The award is being instituted as the Doha dialogue is entering the 10th successful year”, said al-Naimi.
Representatives from the US, the UK, Russia, Austria, Italy, the Vatican, Japan, Argentina, Switzerland, Romania, Ukraine, France, Poland, Germany, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Spain, Morocco, Jordan, Bosnia, Algeria, India, Tunisia, Sweden, Kosovo, Brazil, Palestine, Albania, Chile, Syria, Indonesia, New Zealand, the Philippines and Denmark are to attend the conference.
“We are confident of achieving better results for our mission in coming days,” said al-Naimi.
Answering a question on how the Doha Inter-faith Dialogue is different from similar endeavours in other countries, al-Naimi said: “We have been different all along and this has been acknowledged not only by participants in each of the previous editions but also by several global leaders including presidents, ministers, diplomats, academicians and religious heads from across the world.”
He stressed that there was no room for confrontation at the Doha conference and the organisers had reiterated it over and again that their most important mission was the betterment of humanity and peace all over the world through better understanding of each others’ faith and beliefs.
“We are holding the annual event to listen, understand and enter into dialogue with people of different faiths and make use of the occasion to bring communities closer to each other than what they were before.”
Al-Naimi said the growing attendance at the conference showed there were many people who were willing to attend the annual event on their own as delegates and Qatar looked forward to the participation of such participants who had seen the dialogue as an effective platform to express their views, ideas and concerns.