Cairo: A leading Saudi institution for interfaith dialogue will later Saturday initiate online talks preparing for the G20 Religious Values Forum due later this year in Riyadh as part of Saudi Arabia’s presidency of the global bloc.
The consultative talks will be held by the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Dialogue between Followers of Religions and Cultures (KAICIID), in cooperation with the G20 Interfaith Forum, the UN Alliance of Civilisations and a Saudi national committee following up Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz’s initiative for dialogue among followers of faiths, the Saudi news agency SPA reported.
Saturday’s meeting is part of a series of regional gatherings around the world in preparation for the G20 Religious Values Forum that will forward recommendations to the group’s leaders who will participate in a G20 summit due in Riyadh later in 2020.
Attending the talks are international partners, leaders of religious and humanitarian institutions and policymakers in the Arab region in fields of religious and humanitarian values.
KAICIID has groomed hundreds of young people from different categories of society interested in promoting religious and humanitarian values aimed at enhancing coexistence, respect for diversity and common citizenship to achieve security and peace as well as coming up with appropriate recommendations to policymakers to help address social impact of the global coronavirus pandemic.
Secretary General of KAICIID Faisal Bin Muammar said that holding the G20 Religious Values Forum in Riyadh boosts efforts to consolidate dialogue among followers of faiths and cultures in response to a joint initiative from Saudi Arabia, Spain, Austria and the Vatican.
"It highlights the importance of holding this extraordinary meeting in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in view of its pioneering role in the Islamic world as well as its global political and economic standing and the importance of the issues to be discussed this year in which mankind has faced a ferocious and invisible foe represented in the global pandemic," he added, according to SPA.
Bin Muammar added that values groups and policy experts in Europe, Africa, the Arab Region and Americas will later discuss specific challenges as part of wider topics on the agenda including education, women, youth, peace building, good governance, ecological justices and responses to COVID-19.
"This pandemic has shown hundreds, if not thousands, of tales in religious communities that have rushed to help their citizens of different religious and ethnic backgrounds," he said. "But at the same time, we have seen rise in hate speech and fake news in the aftermath of the epidemic." The official added results of the meetings will enrich discussion at the G20 Religious Values Forum.
