breaking Conference on Dialogue, which concludes here Friday, is expected to recommend establishing a world center for interfaith dialogue named after King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, delegates said Thursday. The proposed King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Center for Interfaith Dialogue will aim to promote cultural dialogue, train people as well as develop their skills according to specific academic foundations, the delegates told Saudi Gazette. They said that the proposal is on the table and that deliberations were focused on whether to make the center a part of the Muslim World League (MWL) or as part of the United Nations – similar to the UN Alliance of Civilizations initiated by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Leading Islamic scholars meeting in Makkah in June had called for creating such a global center to promote relations between religions. After attending the second and third sessions Thursday, enthusiasm remained high with a general feeling among the over 300 delegates in attendance that the conference could well mark the beginning of a sharp departure from longstanding discord and misunderstanding among the world's major faiths and cultures. However, some delegates, speaking on condition of anonymity, noted that there still remained among them people who maintained the old mentality. “Progress in this regard still needs a lot of work,” said one delegate who felt that “other minority religions, especially in Asia and women should be brought into this unprecedented momentum created by King Abdullah in Madrid.” Meanwhile, the United Nations described King Abdullah's initiative to convene the Madrid conference as “a precious mission.” Marie Okabe, deputy spokesman for the UN Secretary General said in a statement that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has lauded King Abdullah for having laid the ground for a successful conference. “Many disputes seem to have been caused by religion, but in reality these are caused by reasons outside religious beliefs,” Ban Ki-moon said. __
