UN's Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has hailed the initiative of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz pertaining to convening a conference for dialogue among followers of religions and cultures in the world. The UN Secretary General made his remarks here yesterday while reading the final communiqué issued by the participants of the conference. He said "King Abdullah's initiative has come at a time when there is an urgent need for dialogue among followers of religions, cultures and civilizations. Ki-moon noted that the initiative along with other initiatives will lead to building a more harmonious world. "The challenge now we are confronting is how to go beyond the strong and positive speeches we heard in the last two days. I pledge my full support to these efforts. It may take time to get acquainted with the outcome, but I do believe that this meeting was an important step forward." The UN Secretary General said that the conference's participant countries have affirmed their rejection to utilizing religion for justifying the killing of innocent people and to commit terror acts, violence and coercion, which directly contradict with all religions which advocate peace, justice and equality. --more
