Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions’ Secretariat holds meeting in Nur-Sultan

A working group of the Secretariat of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions met in the Kazakh capital. The session was attended by leaders of major religious associations and prestigious international organizations from Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt, Iran, Russia, Vatican City and Israel. A total of 14 people took part in it. Tomorrow, the deliberative body will adopt the official agenda for the forthcoming Seventh Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, as well as determine the exact date of its holding. The Congress was supposed to take place this year, but it was postponed until next year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“I am very keen that we continue the work of the congress in terms of addressing religious tolerance in a world where extremism is growing. Perhaps particularly post-pandemic there is so much need for our sharing of stories. In terms of particular issues that I would be keen to see on the agenda, I’m very keen for education in general in other faiths, so that we learn not just about our own tradition, but we learn about the tradition of others. I’m very keen to promote opportunities for women. I think it’s very important to enable and empower women in leadership, to recognize their contribution,” said Jo Bailey Wells, Anglican Church representative.

“The issues that are being discussed today are the agenda for the next year. We are collecting proposals and expressing our own. But the opinions of all the participants are important. The most important topic is the situation after the pandemic, that is, the role of religious leaders in a post-pandemic world,” added Serik Yegizbayev, Kazakh vice Minister of Information and Social Development.

Translation by Assem Zhanmukhanova

Editing by Galiya Khassenkhanova