Kuala Lumpur, 28 August 2025. Participation of the President of the IAO General Assembly to the second International Summit of Religious Leaders

On August 28, the President of the General Assembly of the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO), member of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania, Mr. Ioan Vulpescu, traveled to Kuala Lumpur for his participation in the second International Summit of Religious Leaders, organized by the Office of the Prime Minister of Malaysia in collaboration with the Muslim World League (MWL). It is noted that the IAO was the only political organization of the Christian World and Mr. Vulpescu was the only parliamentarian invited to actively participate in this event.

The Summit had as its central topic “the role of religious leaders in conflict resolution” and brought together more than 400 senior religious leaders from across the world, while the opening was declared by the MWL Secretary General, Sheikh Mohammed Al Issa, and the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Anwar Ibrahim.

In fact, the President of the General Assembly participated in a panel on “the role of religious leaders in combating violence and conflicts”. During his speech, Mr. Vulpescu referred to the need for cooperation between parliamentary and religious leaders to overcome the challenges of the modern world. As a pillar for building a fruitful relationship between parliamentary and religious institutions, he pointed to the Communiques adopted by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) during the successive Parliamentary Conferences on Interfaith Dialogue it organized in Marrakesh (2023) and Rome (2025). Finally, he pointed out the will of the IAO to assist in exploring the conditions for the establishment of communication channels between parliamentary and religious figures and bodies.

On the sidelines of the Summit, the President of the General Assembly held meetings with the MWL Secretary General, Sheikh Mohammed Al Issa, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Anwar Ibrahim, and the Minister of Religious Affairs of Malaysia, Mohd Na’im bin Haji Mokhtar. Mr. Vulpescu thanked them for the invitation and informed them of the recent initiatives of the IAO in the field of promoting interfaith dialogue.

At the end of the Summit, a Final Statement was adopted with the conclusions of the speeches.