COMMON WORLD: PROGRESS THROUGH DIVERSITY

(Muslim World and the West)

Astana has met more than more than 60 representatives of various states and international organizations as OSCE, OIC, PACE, League of Arab States, SCO, UNESCO, participating the “Common World: Progress through Diversity” Forum this October. President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and the OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu made welcoming speeches, mentioning that it is priority to prevent delimitation of the world by terms of civilizations, cultures and religions. Kazakhstan is willing to promote and develop the issue of constructive cooperation between them.

It was the first international dialogue held in such format, Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Ambassadors and Special Representatives of various states gathered to discuss issues developing between the Muslim World and the West. Prominent politics with international authority and recognition as M.Aydin, State Minister of Turkey; M. As Sabah, Vice Prime-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kuwait; J.Kubis, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia; and O.Orhunm Special Representative of the Chairman of OSCE on tolerance and discrimination against Muslims were moderating the Forum. The issues of deepening of understanding between the Muslim world and the West, hotspots of instability in the modern world, and ways of strengthening tolerance and overcoming xenophobia in the mass media were discussed during three sessions of the Dialogue. Among participants of the Forum were S.Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia; Z.Khalilzad US Ambassador to UN; M.Buendia, Observer, Postulant Nuncio, Vatican; Guests of Honour Amerie de Montesquieu, Senator, France; Walter Schwimmer, Former Secretary General of PACE.

The idea to hold the “Common World: Progress through Diversity” Forum was initially discussed during high-level contacts between Kazakhstan’s officials and dignitaries and counterparts from different countries both from the Muslim world and the West.

The latest developments in many parts of the world have identified the necessity to elaborate new paradigms of security, which are based on sustaining of the effective dialogue between civilizations. For Kazakhstan, the principal of tolerance is not a norm of political culture only, but also a stable feature that shapes the state policy. It is determined in single strive to enhance the links between the West and East through the dialogue of civilizations. Preparing to Kazakhstan’s chairmanship in the OSCE in 2010, the Government is planning to use this unique opportunity to enter issues on strengthening the tolerance and continuation of the efforts of member-states in fight against with all forms of discrimination as the key points of the OSCE agenda.

With its experience in building the multinational and multiconfessional state, Kazakhstan attempts to provide a necessary input into the process of rapprochement and mutual understanding between the nations and religions.

From the very beginning of its independence Kazakhstan makes its efforts to foster peace and mutual confidence between the nations. It has in its credit side rejection of possession of nuclear weapon, shutting down its famous testing area in Semey, and efforts to conversion of Central Asia into a denuclearized zone.

Kazakhstan was the one to initiate the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), which has given start to a consecutive work on strengthening the trust relationship between states of the largest continent of the planet. The day before opening the “Common World: Progress through Diversity” Forum, during the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of 30 Asian Countries Kazakhstan proceeded to chairmanship in the Asian Cooperation Dialogue. In 2010 it will chair the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) and in 2011 – the Ministerial Conference of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC).

The active position in the issue of global dialogue between civilizations and cultures is determined by internal necessities of the multiethnic and multicultural Kazakhstan, a country that manages to accommodates more than 130 ethnical groups together in peace and consent.

Within the relatively short time of its independence, this country has swiftly passed through the path of integration into the world economic system, becoming not only attractive for the foreign investors, but an active investor into other economies as well. Based on these achievements it has set an objective to reach the rank among 50 the most competitive states of the world. It is peace and concord within its society that have become the key condition for economic growth of Kazakhstan and improving the living quality of its people.

Geographically situated at the intersection of the greatest civilizations – Christian, Muslim and Buddhist parts of the world, Kazakhstan society during centuries has been absorbing the best experience – a great advantage of the synthesis of the West and the East.

Taking into account Kazakhstan’s active foreign policy, it can be considered as a “bridge” over the gaps existing nowadays between the Muslim World and the West. It is not by pure chance that this country was chosen to be the venue for holding the first of a kind – the Forum of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, an arrangement that has brought together spiritual leaders from more than 26 countries to discuss opportunities for building a steady civil society, overcoming religious isolationism, counteracting extremism, clericalism and enhancing spirit of tolerance across the world.

Consequently, elaborating the intention to create appropriate conditions for the views and ideas of spiritual leaders that have been voiced in the course of the Congresses of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions held in Astana in 2003 and 2006 to be heard at a political level, by leadership of the states, Kazakhstan has come up with the idea to organize a platform for dialogue of this level.

In this connection, Kazakhstan made an important foreign policy proposal to convene an international forum which is dedicated to the issues of a political dialogue at the Foreign Ministers’ level between the Muslim world and West. It is noteworthy that the event is meeting the goals and spirit of the Alliance of Civilizations, which are under implementation by the patronage of Spain’s Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan. Being a part of the Group of Friends of the Alliance of Civilizations, Kazakhstan regards the idea of convening this Forum as integral part of its National Strategy of implementation of the Alliance of Civilizations, its contribution to the latter. The initiative was prepared in the process of frequent consultations with colleagues from Spain and Turkey that co-sponsor the Alliance of Civilizations.

This idea was supported by the OIC’s 57 member states, which was reflected in final communiqué of the OIC’s Senior Officials Meeting of 17 May 2007 in Islamabad, and was mentioned in its Ministerial Declaration.

The “Common World: Progress through Diversity” Forum was viewed as a one-time event that might bring together Foreign Ministers of more than 50 countries that belong to the Muslim World and the West. Thus, it’s up to them to decide whether this Forum should have a follow-up in any form or level. It focused on a specific mechanism of the dialogue, which is the meeting of Foreign Ministers of Muslim and Western countries. Secondly, the Forum only focused on the political dialogue between the largest civilizations, notably, of the Muslim World and West. Thirdly, the Forum highlighted the issues that are urgent for the interaction of the “two poles” and is expected to result in political commitments.

On April 2-3, 2008 as a preparative step for the forum, Reflection Group meeting where the most prominent academics, politicians, social workers with the experience in these matters participated took place in Astana. The aim of the Reflection Group meeting was to brainstorm the ideas and practical outcomes for the Ministerial meeting. In September 2008 Astana held Preparative Senior Officials meeting.

The Forum views, as its major objective, the hands-on discussions at high political level of various approaches to problematic themes in international relations; modernization; economic cooperation; mutual adaptation of cultures; analysis of the role of Mass Media in this process. All these will essentially add to the dialogue of religious leaders by effective decisions and arrangements having practical and political value.

At the same time Kazakhstan is considering possibility to join and further promote one of the major decisions of the First Alliance of Civilizations (AoC) Forum in Madrid such as Global Youth Employment Initiative, AoC Media Fund, AoC Clearinghouse, Rapid Response Media Mechanism, Youth Solidarity Fund and etc. Kazakhstan considers possibility to arrange joint contribution of Muslim and Western countries to the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development which is to be launched in nearest future in the framework of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to tackle urgent problems of Muslim countries such as poverty, lack of education and employment. There is as well a possibility to anticipate implementation within the Forum of certain provisions of the OIC Ten-Year Program of Actions. Forum is considered as well as starting point to the Summit of Heads of the Muslim and Western States under the aegis of the Alliance of Civilizations.

“It is now as never before important for us to unite and rebuff the attempts to divide the humankind. There are no big or small cultures, strong or week religions, there is only indissoluble unity. Dialogue between cultures and civilizations can lay the foundation for the further development of our planet, for the fair and safe global system based on the partnership of various countries, cultures, and religions each of those are uniquely contributing to the world history” - said President of Kazakhstan during the opening ceremony, expressing his confidence that the discussion between representatives of different states and international organisations would foster the global strengthening of tolerance through dialogue and compromise, cooperation and realizing of mutual responsibility for this world.

Thus, agenda of the Forum avoided provocative matters and included actually pointed and problem issues those exist in the current relations between civilisations, led to elaboration of the final document, the Astana Declaration, that underscored importance of diversity at global and national levels, within civilizations and cultures, religions as well as the multiple identities of individuals, rejected any forms of tension, based on religious, confessional, cultural and civilization differences, and their use for fuelling the hatred, xenophobia and confrontation. The following aims reflected in it could be highlighted: establishment of educational and cultural exchange fund, elaboration of different catalogues and dictionaries in the field of political, cultural and mass media self-regulation, promotion of measures on social adaptation for Muslim women and youth in Western countries and countering xenophobia.

It was the first time in the history of international relations, when Heads of Foreign Ministries and their plenipotentiary representatives have came to a common conclusion expressed in a sole document regarding the issues of current importance in the relations between the Muslim World and the West. The Astana Declaration could be used as a “starting pad” for further development of the political dialogue on the highest levels. As Forum participants as well as experts have mentioned, such conference at a political level of the Foreign Ministers and such wide range of its participants is a success of the dialogue between the civilizations.

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