Madrid - A groundbreaking inter-faith conference Friday called on the United Nations to set up a body to promote dialogue between world religions. "We want to move the dialogue onto the world level," Muslim World League Secretary-General Abdullah al-Turki said on closing the World Conference on Dialogue.
The meeting sponsored by Saudi Arabia brought together some 250 Muslim, Christian and Jewish clergy and other experts on inter- religious understanding in the Spanish capital Madrid.
The conference had asked Saudi King Abdullah to "organize a session with the United Nations to constitute an international body to work on dialogue," al-Turki said at a press briefing.
The final declaration issued by the conference announced the establishment of a working team to study measures to overcome obstacles to inter-faith understanding.
The Madrid conference will be followed by a string of other meetings in several countries at different levels, al-Turki and United Arab Emirates representative Izaddin Ibrahim Moustapha explained.
Moustapha said there were plans for a major conference in Japan.
Al-Turki stressed the non-political nature of the dialogue, which would be open to all religions, including non-monotheistic Eastern ones.
Civilian and political measures would nevertheless be "complementary" at the UN level, he said.
