Seeking to quell the violence between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and the Rohingya Muslim minority, Al-Azhar and the Muslim Council of Elders held a conference entitled “Towards a Humanitarian, Cultural Dialogue for Myanmar (Burma)” in Cairo, 3-4 January 2017.
The Conference was attended by representatives of different parties to the conflict in Myanmar's Rakhine State, in order to achieve peace in this Southeast Asian country.
In its first round of dialogue, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Dr. Ahmed El-Tayeb addressed the conference indicating the importance of promoting peace and coexistence in the world.
Participants in the dialogue include young people from Burmese society of all religions (Buddhism, Islam, Christianity and Hinduism). A number of diplomats, writers, thinkers and journalists were also present in the conference. They discussed ways to achieve peaceful coexistence and reaching a solution to the conflict in Myanmar based on the concept of citizenship.