Department for External Church Relations
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DECR vice-chairman meets with UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations
On 26 October 2015, Archimandrite Philaret (Bulekov), vice-chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, met with Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, the UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations. The meeting took place at the Department for External Church Relations. The guest was accompanied by Ms Nihal Saad, head of the Secretariat and Press Attaché of the UN High Representative, and Dr. Mustapha Tlili, Senior Counsellor of the UN High Representative. Representing Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs was Mr. Sergey Nikiforov, Third Secretary of the Department of International Organizations. Among those who took part in the meeting were also Archpriest Sergiy Zvonarev, DECR Secretary for Far Abroad Countries, and Ms Olga Mazur, a staff member of the DECR Secretariat for Far Abroad Countries.
Archimandrite Philaret greeted the guests on behalf of the DECR chairman, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, and told them about the experience of peaceful coexistence and constructive cooperation of traditional religious communities in Russia, as well as about the work of the Interreligious Council.
Mr. Nassir thanked the DECR chairman for an opportunity to hold the meeting and presented an overview of the activities of the Alliance of Civilizations.
The participants in the meeting discussed a number of issues pertaining to peaceful coexistence of nations and religious communities, and the ways to prevent conflicts, and expressed their concern over the situation of Christians in the Middle East, subjected to discrimination and persecutions.
As was noted during the meeting, leaders of religious communities have special authority and experience in settling intestine conflicts.
To conclude the meeting, the participants expressed their willingness to promote cooperation.
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