The “Tolerance & Inclusivity Pre – Expo Week” is the fourth in a series of global digital events offering an overview of what will be the subject of “Expo Dubai 2020“, the Universal Exposition to be held in the United Arab Emirates from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022 (the first to be held in an Arab country).
As evidence of the United Arab Emirates’ growing commitment to collaboration between different religious faiths and meeting between cultures, one of the central themes of the Expo will be the intercultural and interreligious dialogue, the subject of a digital meeting held on Tuesday 17 November 2020 in which Ambassador Pietro Sebastiani participated with a video message.
The session, organised under the supervision of the Commissariat for Italy’s participation in Expo 2020 Dubai, was broadcast on the Expo 2020 Dubai YouTube channel and can be viewed by clicking here.
The meeting was attended, among others, by Paul Hinder, Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia (United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen) and Apostolic Administrator of Northern Arabia (Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain); Stefania Giannini, Deputy Director General of UNESCO; Alberto Melloni, Historian of Religions; Marco Impagliazzo, President of the Community of Sant’Egidio; Khadijah Taufiq, student at Bocconi University in Milan and young representative of the Peer-Mentoring programme of the Italian Pavilion.
During his speech, Ambassador Sebastiani underlined how Italy considers interreligious dialogue a fundamental tool to boost mutual understanding between different religions and peoples and to develop compromise relations between multiple political, social and religious realities. In this context, Ambassador Sebastiani mentioned the Document on Human Brotherhood – signed on 4 February 2019 in Abu Dhabi by Pope Francis and the Great Imam of Al-Azhar Amad Al-Tayyeb – a pivotal point on the path towards the creation of an inclusive and tolerant international community.
“Italy”, continued Ambassador Sebastiani, “believes that inter-religious dialogue is indispensable for the achievement of peace, especially for those territories in crisis, where religious differences are the cause of conflict. Our country has made the protection of religious communities one of the pillars of its foreign policy, directly or indirectly carrying out numerous initiatives in favour of religious and ethnic communities who are victims of sectarian violence, especially in the Middle East”.
“Italian foreign policy initiatives have always been guided by the principles of humanity and impartiality, which are intrinsically linked to the protection and promotion of religious freedom, which Italy also supports through its non-governmental organisations”.
In conclusion, Ambassador Sebastiani pointed out that in Pope Francis’ Encyclical Fratelli Tutti the word “dialogue” is mentioned 44 times, as a testimony to how fundamental it is that everyone recognises its centrality.
The building of a tolerant international community based on mutual respect requires the essential participation of all the actors involved, not only the different Churches or religions, but also civil society, states, governments and international organisations.
More information on the contribution of Italy and Expo 2020 Dubai can be found on the website: https://italyexpo2020.it.
