Speech of Sergey Ordzhonikidze, Deputy Secretary-General of the UN, UN special representative in Geneva

I'm pleased and honoured to read out the UN Secretary-General's message addressed to this highest meeting.

"You are meeting at the period, which is considered as a period of increasing intolerance, extremism and violence. Recent events in the Middle East have just poured fuel on this tendency. Interrelations between adherents, followers of great world religions, suffer from that in particular.

If to leave these problems unsolved, they may threaten the stability in many parts of the world. The driving motive of these disturbing events is a growing tendency to emphasize, mark out differences with regard to originality, may that be religious, ethnic, racial or other originality, without any attempt to consider opinions and interests of others.

As interests and opinions can be re-estimated and negotiations carried out, discussed, then we quite rarely do that in regard to our originality, and today it strengthens differences in it. And it is very important to gather all inter-religious leaders. Believers make a strong influence on behavior of groups and separate people.

As teachers, being our guides, you can be powerful instruments for changes. You can inspire people to a new level of liabilities and serving to the community, you can fill the gaps of ignorance, fear and incomprehension.

You can be the sample of inter-religious dialogue and cooperation. Together you can help to build the way of moderation for believers and to show them that they can remain faithful to their beliefs and convictions, and at the same time, to be involved in the world which constantly changes.

Also your discussions should have an opportunity to make an important contribution to the alliance of civilizations, I was the initiator of it last year, due to the initiatives of Spanish and Turkish Prime Ministers. This initiative is aimed at the necessity of taking common efforts on the part of an international community both on the inter­governmental and civil society level in order to fill our divides and to overcome prejudices, wrong ideas and polarization, which potentially can create threat to the world.

The meetings like this, might be very important to reach the end success, the aim of which becomes particularly urgent, taking into account the last troubling events. Just in this way, I would like to wish a success to the Congress and call you to propagate the dialogue ideas and peaceful existence between your communities".

Thank you very much.