The forum was held in response to the wish of the international community to live in harmony and peace despite different faiths and religions.Denpasar, Bali (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) held a parliamentary event on interfaith dialogue in the resort island of Bali on Thursday, with representatives from 17 countries attending.
"This forum will discuss a wide range of issues beneficial to the development of inter-parliamentary cooperation. It is also expected to contribute to the development of the social sector at regional and global levels," Indonesian House Speaker Marzuki Alie said.
According to him, the forum was held in response to the wish of the international community to live in harmony and peace despite different faiths and religions.
The forum would figure out a way to find an adaptive solution to the emergence of various new identities resulting from different faiths and religions, he said.
In addition, the participants of the meeting would also discuss a number of social conflicts in countries which are in the process of developing democracy or are entering the transitional period of democracy, he said.
Interfaith dialogs among world parliamentary members were needed to contribute to the settlement of religious and cultural conflicts in various parts of the world, he said.
The participants came from Australia, Austria, Bosnia Herzegovina, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Republic of Chad, Egypt, Laos, Morocco, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey and Uganda.
The forum was also attended by representatives from 12 international religious organizations, including the Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States (PUIC), the World Muslim League, the Bishops` Conference of Indonesia (KWI), and Indonesia`s Muslim organizations Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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