Baku,Azerbaijan-On November 11-12, the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy (ADA) hosted an international conference on “Inter-civilizational dialogue: insight from Azerbaijan”. More than 100 scholars, politicians, journalists and policy-makers from more than 30 countries attended the event, dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the Organization of Islamic Conference.

The aim of the conference was to gather representatives of all faiths in Baku and discuss various forms of inter-religious problems, conflicts and tensions that exist in the world at the moment and seek ways to strengthen the dialogue between various cultures, religions and civilizations. Azerbaijan, being a moderate Muslim country, shared its own experience with religious and ethnic tolerance and harmony.

Among the participants of the conference were the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan H.E. Elmar Mammadyarov, the Secretary General of OIC, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, and the Chairman of the Caucasian Muslims Office, Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazadeh. Conference participants also debated reasons why Islam and the West have misperceptions about each other and elaborated on ways to bring change to the Islamic world.