Dr. Abdullah Bin Mohamed Bin Ibrahim Aal Al-Sheikh, Chairman of the Shoura (Consultative) Council, will lead a six-member delegation to Astana (Kazakhstan) to attend the two-day International Inter-Religious Forum on July 1 and 2, said Ualikhanov Sanjar, an official of the Kazakhstan Embassy in Riyadh. Sanjar said the Saudi delegation is expected to highlight King Abdullah's Initiative for Interfaith Dialogue in the forthcoming 3rd Congress of Leaders of the World and Traditional Religions (Inter-Religious Forum) in Astana, where over 600 delegates of various faiths and representatives from international organizations such as UN, OSCE, UNESCO, OIC and a number of other countries will participate. King Abdullah last year presented the Interfaith Dialogue Initiative at the UN's Madrid Conference that was considered to have paved the way for a wider and broader dialogue among the cultures and civilizations of the world. N. Nazarbayev, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, will deliver the welcome speech followed by opening remarks by the representative of each religion, heads of states and governments, and chiefs of international organizations participating in the forum. He said prominent leaders including Sheikh Abdullah Bin Abdulmohsin Al-Turki, Secretary General of the World Muslim League and Sheikh Muhammad Ahmad Al-Sharif, Supreme Imam of the Council of the World Association for the Promotion of Islam, will attend the forum. Other participants include a Deputy UN Secretary General, Spanish foreign minister, and former prime minister of Norway. Sanjar said Islam will be represented in the forum by Muslim countries, such as, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Indonesia, the UAE, Libya and Pakistan. Christianity will be represented by the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Russian Orthodox, Orthodox Constantinople, Romanian Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic Church and the Lutheran World Federation, he said. “Astana is also expected to see the participation of five Buddhist delegations coming from China, Mongolia, Japan, Thailand and South Korea and delegations representing Shinto, Hinduism, Taoism and Zoroastrians,” he said.
