13 September 2005, United Nations, New York – Efforts at building global peace, fighting terrorism and intolerance and fostering greater understanding today received a major boost with the successful holding of the historic and groundbreaking first Interfaith Summit, according to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto G. Romulo.
 
“Led by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who chaired the meeting, the world leaders participating in today’s historic Interfaith Summit, united behind an outcome document that acknowledges and emphasizes the importance of interfaith dialogue,” the Secretary said.

Quoting from the Interfaith Summit’s Declaration on Interfaith Dialogue and Cooperation for Peace, the Secretary said that President Arroyo, succeeded in the uniting key global leaders in placing their strong support behind the conviction that a “culture of peace can be significantly enhanced by inter-religious, inter-cultural and inter-civilizational dialogue and cooperation, which further promote mutual understanding, respect and tolerance among religions, cultures and peoples.”
 
“The unity shown by the participating leaders behind this clear understanding on the importance of interfaith dialogue and cooperation is an important contribution and a major boost to preventing conflict and building peace,” the Secretary pointed out. Secretary Romulo added that today’s historic meeting not only brought together different world leaders but also “highlighted the contributions made by other nations in the quest for interfaith dialogue and cooperation.”

The meeting’s outcome document acknowledged the specific activities that nations have taken to pursue interfaith dialogue, including the Conference on Interfaith Cooperation which was held at the UN last June and chaired by Secretary Romulo.  “The overwhelming support that we have received, not only for today’s historic Interfaith Summit but also for all our other initiatives in this area is a direct result of the vision and leadership of President Arroyo who has been at the forefront of Philippine global interfaith initiatives,” the Secretary said.

“The Philippines will continue to be a major participant and mover on interfaith dialogue and cooperation.  With the understanding reached today for the leaders to meet in five years to review the progress of cooperation in this area, and with the call for concerned foreign ministers to meet annually at the margins of the general debate of the General Assembly of the United Nations to follow up on the progress of work on enhancing the promotion of a culture of peace through inter-religious, inter-cultural and intercivilizational dialogue and cooperation, I firmly believe in the continued success of our interfaith initiative,” Secretary Romulo said. END