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| Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (L) speaks at the World Economic Forum (WEF) conference on the Middle East in Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday, May 21, 2006. Some 1,200 political and business leaders from 46 countries attend the forum, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R). (Xinhua Photo) |
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, May 21
(Xinhua) -- Prime ministers of Malaysia, Turkey, Egypt and Lebanon called for
dialogue on Sunday to solve regional and world conflicts on the sidelines of a
key Mideast economic forum currently underway in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh.
, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Egypt's Ahmed Nazef
and Lebanon's Fouad Siniora made the call at a debate session on the fringe of
the World Economic Forum (WEF) conference on the Middle East which kicked off in
Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday.
The four ministers, all from Muslim-dominated
countries, agreed during the session titled "Enhancing Dialogue, Strengthening
Cooperation" that Muslim countries should do a better job in communicating with
the non-Muslim world, with one another and with groups in their own nations in
order to help solve regional and world conflicts, according to a press release.
The four leaders also said that dialogue was the way
forward for resolving the region's thorniest problems, such as the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the role of women in Islam.
Lebanese Premier Siniora, whose country has witnessed
strained relations with neighboring Syria, said that the region should look at
"a shared education" as a kind of dialogue to be invested in.
Egyptian Prime Minister Nazef, on his part, called
the Islamic world's engagement with the global media a "failure in the system"
that must be fixed so that the majority voices in Islam preaching moderation
could be heard.
Nazef also criticized Egypt's Islamic universities
for not taking "a more probative role" in communicating Islam's peaceful
mission.
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan called on regional
leaders to engage in more dialogue with Syria, adding that Turkey's positive
foreign relations came as a result from creating a culture of dialogue with all
its neighbors.
His Malaysian counterpart Badawi also attached great
importance to dialogue as a means to bridge various cultures, saying "such
dialogues are not a monologue and people listen to one another with no one
marginalized or out of the circle in their efforts to move toward a common
progressive future."
The three-day economic forum on the Middle East,
under the theme of "The Promise of a New Generation", is held in Egypt for the
first time.
The annual conference is the fourth of its kind and
the three previous meetings were all held in Jordan.
Some 1,200 political and business leaders from 46
countries attend the forum, including U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert
Zoellick, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Foreign Minister Tzipi
Livni and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The forum, modelled on the WEF's annual meeting at
the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos, is seen as a platform for regional and world
leaders to discuss economic reforms, unemployment and regional stability and
peace in the Middle East.
Incorporated as a foundation in 1971, the Geneva-based WEF is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas. Enditem
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