The forum is organized by the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan (ISMI) together with the American NGO "Love Your Neighbor Community" (LYNC) with the support of the Committee on Religious Affairs, the Center for Islamic Civilization in Uzbekistan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Khokimiyat of the Samarkand region.
The event will be a logical continuation of the forum held in Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara in 2022, which resulted in the adoption of the Bukhara Declaration, later recognized as an official document of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly.
Similar forums have been held since 2016 in cities such as Marrakech, Mecca, Jakarta, Potomac and Punta del Este, and have established themselves as an authoritative international platform for promoting the ideas of enlightenment, religious freedom and a culture of tolerance. Each of the forums ends with the adoption of conceptual documents - declarations of the same name.
For the first time in Uzbekistan, the forum was held in Tashkent in 2019 and has since acquired the status of a significant international event that allows the world community to get acquainted with the rich cultural, historical, religious and philosophical heritage of the Uzbek people, as well as with the country's experience in ensuring interfaith harmony, religious tolerance and an atmosphere of friendship and mutual understanding in society.
About 50 leading religious’ scholars, theologians, experts, and dignitaries from 15 countries, including the United States, Great Britain, China, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, and Central Asian states, are expected to participate in the upcoming forum.
Following the results of the forum, a final appeal will be adopted to the world community with calls to protect the rights of religious minorities, exclude discrimination on religious grounds, develop religious education as a means of countering violent extremism, affirm religious freedom as a universal human right and promote equal rights for all people regardless of their religious and cultural differences.
In general, the results of the II International Forum "Dialogue of Declarations" will be an important contribution to strengthening religious tolerance, mutual respect, generosity and peaceful coexistence of peoples in the context of global diversity.
