Meeting among religious leaders and members of the initiating Committee for the interreligious Council of Bosnia-Herzegovina

Sarajevo, December 5, 1997 (IKA/KTA) — A meeting was held among the religious leaders of Bosnia-Herzegovina on December 3, 1997 in Sarajevo. The host of the meeting was Archbishop Cardinal Vinko Puljić of Sarajevo who greeted the participants at the beginning of the meeting: Reis-el-Ulema Dr. Mustafa ef. Cerić; the president of the Jewish Community and president of the Initiating Committee of the Interreligious Council of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Jakob Finici and members of the committee; Serbian Orthodox Metropolitan Bishop Nikolaj and guests from the World Council of Religions for Peace (WCRP): the general secretary William F. Vendley; the director of the WCRP in Sarajevo, James Lawton; and the secretary, Nataša Pilsel. The meeting was organized at the suggestion of General Secretary Vendley, who conveyed the contents of a letter from the president of the international Buddhist organization Nirvana, in which they were invited to visit Tokyo in early March of 1998. The president of the Initiating Committee for the formation of the Interreligious Council of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Jakob Finici, submitted a report on the activities that have been undertaken since the last meeting of the religious leaders and acquainted those present with invitations that the Initiating Committee for the formation of the Interreligious Council of Bosnia-Herzegovina has received from Japan, the USA and Iran. The leaders of the churches and religious communities accepted these invitations and planned their joint departure. The leaders discussed public appearances and concluded that President Finici should organize television broadcasts in which the religious leaders could appear, first individually and then all together. After the presentation by the general secretary of the WCRP, William Vendley, it was agreed to make a contract with the WCRP regarding mutual cooperation, to be prepared by the WCRP.