New York - The United Nations headquarters prepares to lock down one more time this year when the kings of Saudi Arabia and Jordan, and US President George W Bush and Israeli President Shimon Peres attend a two-day conference on religion and peace, it was announced Monday. Close to 70 government delegations will meet Wednesday and Thursday in the UN General Assembly for the "promotion of inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue, understanding and cooperation of peace."
The UN prefers the short title "Culture of Peace" to describe the aims of the meetings. UN and governments involved in the debate have wanted to bring more understanding among cultures and religions of the world in order to resolve political and armed conflict.
The UN headquarters in New York normally only barricades itself during the time of the General Assembly sessions for two weeks in September. Traffic on First Avenue in front of the UN will be closed and security will be enhanced
Bush attended the session in September and addressed the UN for the last time before stepping down on January 20. But he was not expected back so soon as lame duck president.
The UN confirmed the attendance of the kings of Saudi Arabia and Jordan, the emir of Kuwait and Bahrain, and the presidents of the Philippines, Israel, Finland, Pakistan and Lebanon.
The prime ministers of the United Kingdom, Qatar, Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Djibouti and Egypt are also coming. The UN said dozens of foreign ministers and high ranking government officials will attend.
The Vatican will send a cardinal while the Palestinian Authority will send its prime minister.
The presence of top Middle East governments and Bush at the UN has given rise to speculation that they may meet to pursue talks on ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But the UN could not confirm yet of any bilateral meetings.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said last week he was encouraged by the high attendance to the Culture of Peace debate.
"This initiative will be a very important one that will provide us very important momentum where all the world leaders, representatives from different faiths, different regions, will sit together," Ban said.
Ban said the interfaith dialogue is built to deepen understanding and appreciation of religions, faiths and cultures, which will help create a favourable environment for the resolution of political issues.
The assembly had held two rounds of discussion on the issue in the past years at ministerial levels. It would be the first time that heads of state would take part in the discussion.
