The topic of the international conference was “Diversity in Unity and Fundamental Freedoms for Christians and Muslims in the Middle East: A Conference for Parliamentary Dialogue”.

The Head of the delegation Aleksandar Cotric said that the position of Christians is deteriorating as overall security in the Middle East deteriorates. He stressed that what is especially bad for the position of Christian communities is the misuse of religion in politics in the radical jihadist form, that is militant organizations that occasionally fill the security vacuum created by the weakening of central governments which contributes to the mass emigration of Christians which had been gaining exodus proportions in certain parts of the Middle East in last years. Cotric concluded that what the Middle East needs is a constant promotion of inter-religious dialogue and a cultural heterogeneity as sine qua non elements for a peaceful and harmonious co-existence of all the people, based in diversity, tolerance and respect of differences, which the Conference undoubtedly contributed to.

MP Dr Muamer Zukorlic said that God is one. The essence of our values and ethics is to build a future together. He said that extremism and terrorism are dangers which need to be combated and their core lies in an individual or group, as well as week belief and often an environment of injustice and lack of respect for human dignity. He stressed that the followers of Islam, Christianity and Judaism share the same spiritual and ethical values and they should all be on the same side. He said that Jerusalem should be viewed as the centre on three heavenly religions. He stressed that Serbia was the venue of many wars but despite it we see that there is no alternative to reconciliation which is what the Serbian Parliament strives for. He stressed that confrontation can result in no good.

The participants of the conference adopted a Declaration in which they agreed that a forum dialogue between parliamentary institutions and religious communities at the local and international level would improve the efficiency of democratic dialogue and that parliamentarism would employ the necessary legislative measures to eliminate any form of discrimination.