Int'l conference on religion opens

13 October 2008

Tehran-World dignitaries opened international conference on 'Religion in Modern World' in Tehran on Monday.

The two-day conference will address the issue of how religious and political leaders can cooperate to promote peace by protecting human rights, moral and religious values, diversity and coexistence in pluralistic, modern societies.

Former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, former Norwegian prime minister Bondevick, former Italian prime minister Romano Prodi, former French prime minister Lionel Jospin, former Swiss president Joseph Deiss, former Portuguese president Jorge Sampaio, former Irish president Mary Robinson, former Sri Lankan president Chandrika Kumaratunga and former UNESCO director general Federico Mayor as well as several other scholars are attending the two-day confab.

Former president Mohammad Khatami addressed the inaugural session of the conference this morning.

Sampaio, UN high representative for Alliance of Civilizations, will also address the conference organized by Khatami.

Iraq's top Sunni cleric and head of the Association of Muslim Scholars (C) arrives for the sixth annual Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Conference organized by the Jerusalem International Foundation in the Qatari capital Doha, on 12 October 2008.