VIVAnews - The United States and the Indonesian are co-sponsoring a major interfaith conference in Jakarta, Indonesia during 25-27 January 2010. Influential religious leaders and civic organizations of different faiths are meeting to discuss the topic of “Building Collaborative Communities: Enhancing Cooperation among People of Different Faiths.”
According to the US Embassy, this is the first such conference held world-wide and presages a series of similar forums in other parts of the globe later this year.
Following up on President Obama’s pledge to support increasing interfaith cooperation, this conference is bringing together top Indonesian religious leaders, prominent American religious figures, and a number of religious leaders from neighboring Asian countries.
Several non-governmental organizations will also participate. Participants will focus on sharing best practices and enhancing collaboration in areas such as poverty alleviation, education, environmental protection, and local governance.
The working conference is generously hosted by the Republic of Indonesia, and will be facilitated by an international non-governmental organization, Religions for Peace. This conference will inaugurate a regional interfaith working group in South-East Asia that will work to build new partnerships between faith and civic communities to address challenges of community development in the region.
Additional interfaith working groups in other regions of the world are being planned and will begin later in 2010 and in 2011.
