Baku to host int’l conference on co-op in interfaith dialogue

By  Trend

A delegation consisting of members of the US Jewish and Evangelical Christian communities will be on a visit to Baku March 3-8, Trend reports with reference to Azerbaijan's State Committee on Work with Diaspora Feb. 28.

An international conference “From interfaith and intercivilizational dialogue to cooperation” will be held March 5 as part of the visit program, jointly organized by the State Committee on Religious Associations and the Caucasus Muslims Office.

During the visit, the delegation’s meetings are planned in the Foreign Ministry, the State Committee on Religious Associations, the Baku International Multiculturalism Center and the Caucasus Muslims Office, visits to the Jewish school in Baku, the Heydar Mosque, Orthodox, Catholic churches, synagogues of Ashkenazi and Caucasus Jews, the Red Sloboda settlement in Azerbaijan’s Guba district where the Jews live.

The conference will be attended by Chairman of the State Committee on Religious Associations Mubariz Gurbanli, Chairman of the Caucasus Muslims Office Sheikhulislam Allahshukur Pashazade, Head of Department of Interethnic Relations, Multiculturalism and Religious Issues under the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan Etibar Najafov.

The conference will also be attended by Vice-Speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament Bahar Muradova, Head of the Parliamentary Committee on Public Associations and Religious Structures Siyavush Novruzov, Vice-President of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences Isa Habibbayli, MPs Mikhail Zabelin, Evda Abramov, heads of religious confessions operating in Azerbaijan, as well as participants who arrived from the US.

The delegation is headed by Head of the US Foundation for Ethnic Understanding Rabbi Marc Schneier and Bishop Robert Stearns, executive director of the Evangelical organization Eagles’ Wings.

The international event is aimed at getting to know the exemplary experience of Azerbaijan, supporting interfaith dialogue and cooperation thanks to the targeted policy of the head of state, holding discussions to further deepen the platform of communication between countries and religions.