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21 May 2006 - Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt At the World Economic Forum on the Middle East currently taking place in Sharm El Sheikh, the prime ministers of Malaysia, Turkey, Egypt and Lebanon called on the Muslim world to do a better job communicating to the rest of the world, to each other, and to groups within their own countries. Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Prime Minister of Malaysia, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of Turkey, Ahmed Mahmoud Nazif, Prime Minister of Egypt, and Fouad Siniora, Prime Minister of Lebanon, called on regional governments to embrace dialogue as the means in which to enhance civil society and find solutions to conflict. "Extremism makes news," said Prime Minister Siniora, who called on the region to look at "a shared education" as a kind of dialogue that needs to be invested in. Prime Minister Nazif called the Islamic world’s engagement with global media a "failure in the system" that must be fixed so that the majority voices in Islam preaching moderation are heard. Nazif rebuked his own country’s Islamic universities for not taking a more proactive role in communicating Islam’s peaceful mission. Prime Minister Erdogan called on regional leaders to engage in more dialogue with Syria, noting Turkey's positive relationship in creating a culture of dialogue with all its neighbours. The prime ministers praised Malaysia as a model for the world. The majority Muslim but multicultural and multireligious nation relies on "real dialogue – which is not a monologue but people actually listening to each other, with no one marginalized, no one out of the circle" to continue moving towards "a common progressive future", said Prime Minister Badawi, who also pointed to Malaysia’s participation in the ASEAN group of Asian governments as another case where dialogue provides results. The prime ministers concluded that dialogue is the way forward for the region's thorniest problems, from the Palestinian issue to the role of women in Islam. Watch sessions live from the World Economic Forum on the Middle East at: www.weforum.org/middleeast/webcasts For more information about the meeting, visit: Please note that media accreditation is closed. For accredited media, guidelines and general logistical information for the media can be found at: http://www.weforum.org/middleeast/presskit
__________________________________________ The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas. Incorporated as a foundation in 1971, and based in Geneva, Switzerland, the World Economic Forum is impartial and not-for-profit; it is tied to no political, partisan or national interests. (www.weforum.org) For more information, please contact: Communications and Public Affairs World Economic Forum Tel.: +41 (0) 22 869 1212 Fax: +41 (0) 22 869 1394 E-mail: public.affairs@weforum.org
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