Op-Ed: UAE Delivers Key Messages During 1st Interfaith Alliance Forum

The UAE delivered many key messages during the first Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities Forum, held in the nation's capital, Abu Dhabi.

ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 20th Nov, 2018) The UAE delivered many key messages during the first Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities Forum, held in the nation's capital, Abu Dhabi.

The forum reflected the country’s vision at various regional and international events, such as institutionalising its joint efforts to defend people, promote positive values, and eliminate the physical and cultural sources of extremism and terrorism, which aim to destroy justice and tolerance and threaten the mutual trust and cooperation between various religions.

While many countries are satisfied with using rhetoric to combat terrorism, the UAE transformed its rhetoric into action, as it is a nation built on the foundations of tolerance and common social values that have these noble values a protected social culture supported by the law. Providing humanitarian assistance and relief aid is an integral part of its foreign policy, which is contributing to the fight against terrorism and extremism.

The forum’s main topic covered the UAE’s experience in protecting the dignity of children in the digital age, as the country has prioritised the protection of children and gave the youth, the creators of the future, the opportunity to participate in the process of development.

It has also utilised social media and new and traditional media to counter incorrect concepts regarding the tolerance and the religious teachings used by terrorist groups to promote their ideologies.

During the forum, proof was presented by H.H. Lt. General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, who said that the UAE is the ideal model of tolerance and peaceful coexistence between all religions, as it embraces over 200 nationalities from hundreds of cultures, who live altogether in comfort, security and freedom.

The UAE’s strongest soft power message during the forum was that it is the only country in the world that has created ministries for tolerance and happiness, which are among the foundations established by the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, leading to a methodology adopted by the wise leadership and supported by laws and legislation that made them part of the nation’s culture and social behaviour.