April 5, Sharm El Shiekh, Egypt; The Second Ministerial Asia-Middle East Dialogue meeting of 50 foreign ministers of the two regions addressed the issue of terrorism with a strong consensus emerging amongst the delegates that culture was the ultimate weapon against terrorism and religious conflict and that AMED should come up with practical mechanisms to establish cultural links that will grow and consolidate the regions in firm solidarity with each other.
Egypt’s foreign minister, Farouk Hosny, said any talk of culture was not far removed from policies, economy or any kind of cooperation for the development of the AMED countries.
"Culture is, in the final analysis, the common denominator and the product of human dialogue. It is the means whereby a humane consensus might be reached, transcending narrow minded interests.
"Solutions to problems could only be found through culture. The world suffers from fanaticism, violence and pollution of natural resources. Military supremacy, rather than our common humanity, has had the upper hand in many parts of the world today and this is why we suffer today. AMED needs to bring about a revival of human values and to put the potentials and technologies of the age in the service of human end. Our souls need to be re-illuminated and glean the fruits of wisdom accruing from contact of peoples and races," Hosny said.
Foreign Minister George Yeo of Singapore said that religious conflict and international terrorism were issues that could not be handled by a single country or region.
"We must give some priority to interfaith understanding. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia recently proposed a new interfaith dialogue that will bring together Islam, Christianity and Judaism. The agreement between Muslim leaders led by Prince Ghazi of Jordan and the Vatican to establish a permanent forum for Muslim-Catholic dialogue is another positive development. The first meeting will be held in Rome this year the next, in a Muslim country, in 2010," Yeo said.
Both Asia and the Middle East were important regions in the world that followed similar courses of history. They had been the birthplaces of ancient civilisations and the major religions. Together they made huge contributions to the progress of mankind, China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, said.
Terrorism and religious conflict were on the rise in both regions and the hotspots of the world were concentrated here.
"Terrorism has to be deterred and suppressed by all means. However, we cannot eliminate terrorism by force alone. We have to address the root causes of terrorism which are poverty, the rapid population growth, increased unemployment, social instability, the deepening gap between rich and poor, lack of political freedom and an increased sense of injustice," Takaya Suto, Japan’s Ambassador to Egypt said.
Dato Haniff, Deputy Secretary General, Malaysian Foreign Ministry said that biggest mistake was resorting to blind violence after 9/11 to combat terrorism.
"It was a big mistake to resort to violence without examining the fundamental causes of terrorism. The violence has only led to more violence and it’s a vicious cycle and the world is polarising. And the recent issue in the Netherlands of using freedom of expression to insult Islam only increased tensions and fundamentalists and extremists are given the chance to take advantage of the situation and wreak havoc," he said.
Prince Torky Al Kabir, Undersecretary of Multilateral Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Saudi Arabia said that AMED had to be more objective as regards the welfare of humanity and that conflicts, particularly the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which was given much attention at the summit, had to be resolved peacefully, with justice and mutual trust.
