ATHENS, 7 May 2004 — Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis will open the third international conference on religions and cultures here today to work out a new international charter for values.

Dr. Hamid ibn Ahmed Al-Rifae, president of the World Islamic Forum for Dialogue (WIFD) will present a paper at the conference highlighting WIFD’s proposals to the new charter.

The proposals of Al-Rifae, a Saudi academic, will be based on three fundamental points: Unity of human family; human dignity and justice; and environmental security.

In his paper, Al-Rifae will also emphasize the need to achieve five goals: Religious, intellectual, moral, social and economic security.

He will also emphasize the unity of the source of faith and the unity of the human family.

He considers earth as the residence for all, life as a divine right for all, human honor as a gift from God, justice as a divine order and peace as the name of God.

Other highlights in his paper are: Environment is the blessing of God, woman is the source of love and affection, man and woman are partners and must share life’s responsibilities, family is the basis for social security and religious and spiritual values are essential for the peaceful coexistence of humanity.

The Athens conference is a continuation of a meeting held last September in Rhodes, which emphasized that international cooperation was possible to set out an international charter of values.

The new charter will take into consideration the proposals made by WIFD on the basis of the advice given by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in his last sermon.

The Prophet had emphasized the need to protect human life, property and honor, and work for development of society.

The Athens conference will present a proposal to the United Nations in the form of charter unanimously approved by all divine religions and cultures.

The third conference, organized by the Greek Ministry of Culture in cooperation with the World Forum for Religion and Culture, will be attended by more than 70 personalities, including religious leaders and scholars.