The Secretariat of the Congress

The Secretariat is the working body of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions. It was created during the first congress in 2003.

The body provides activities in the intervals between sessions of the congress. The head is the Chairman of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Now the secretariat is headed by Maulen Ashimbayev.

Members of the Secretariat are representatives of the leaders of world religions participating in the congress. Among them there are representatives of:

• Islam,
• Christianity,
• Judaism,
• Buddhism,
• Taoism,
• Shintoism,
• Hinduism,
• international organizations.

The secretariat meets annually. It considers the following questions:

– implementation of the decisions of the congress;

– ensuring the preparation of the meetings of the congress;

– agreeing on key topics, the global agenda, work procedures, draft final documents (declarations, appeals);

– coordination of interaction with international structures on issues of interfaith and intercivilizational dialogue.

The previous time the secretariat met in October 2021 in Nur-Sultan, it was the 19th meeting. The participants discussed the upcoming VII Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.