Eight hundred people from 91 nations attended the opening of the Universal Peace Federation's summit. Faith leaders offered prayers and lit candles for peace to open the summit. Speakers from various countries emphasized the importance of cooperation, democratic values, economic development, and overcoming poverty to achieve lasting peace and security globally.

2. Eight hundred people from 91 nations attended the opening plenary
of the Universal Peace Federation’s Summit at the Sheraton Grande Walkerhill Hotel.

3. Faith leaders opened the Summit by offering prayers and lighting candles for peace.

4. • Peace and security are
AFGHANISTAN
blessings from God.
• It is vital to use all the
teachings that come
from God and take wise
and bold measures to
establish lasting peace and
security.
H.E. Mohammad Karim
Khalili, Vice President

5. • Our region consists of
ALBANIA
Allied countries, aspirant
countries, and partners
with NATO or the EU.
• Security and defense
reforms in the region have
grossly reduced the risks of
conventional
Prof. Dr. Arta Musaraj,
Deputy Minister of Defense confrontation.

6. • The more the following
AUSTRALIA
factors are present, the
higher the well-being of
people: free
enterprise, genuine
democratic
government, rule of
law, opposition to
Hon. David John
Clarke, Member, Legislative
totalitarianism, upholding
Council of the Parliament of
New South Wales the family unit, religious
tolerance, and God-
centered values.

7. • Where I was born, we
AUSTRIA
could hear the shooting of
the border police; now we
can cross the border freely.
• This has been a
complicated solution, but a
very successful one.
Dr. Werner
Fasslabend, Minister of
Defense, 1990 to 2000

9. • Russia has been seeking
forms of integration that
BELARUS would assert its supremacy
and at the same time
encourage the CIS
countries to join
associations proposed by
Russia.
• The post-Soviet space in
Europe and Asia went
H.E. Stanislav
Shushkevich, Chair of the through revolutionary
Supreme Council, 1991 to 1994
upheavals; but it seems
that old patterns may
prevail.

10. • Knowing the horrors of
FEDERATION OF BOSNIA
AND HERZEGOVINA
war, today as a politician I
act in a way so that those
horrors of war would not
happen again, neither to us
nor to others.
H.E. Zivko
Budimir, President

11. • The Arusha Accords allowed us
BURUNDI
to achieve a rapprochement
between the Hutu majority
and the Tutsi minority, the
negotiation of a cease-fire with
rebel Hutus with the backing
of the Tutsi leadership, a
peaceful integration of rebel
fighters into the national
H.E. Domitien
Ndayizeye, President, 2003 army, the organization of
to 2005
national elections, and the
inauguration of a newly
elected President.

12. • The main reason for human
CANADA
development differences in
the Americas is that some
populations enjoy better
representative government
with good constitutions
and institutions of
governance, the rule of
Hon. David
Kilgour, Secretary of State law, and the sanctity of
for Latin America and
Africa, 1997 to 2002 private property for all.

14. • International security will
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF
CHINA face three major threats
in the 21st century:
threat from increasing
network attacks, threat
from climate change to
human survival and
Dr. Mingjun
development, and threat
Jiang, General
Director, International from biological weapons
Eco-Safety Cooperative
Organization in the future.

15. • The deployment of a
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC
OF THE CONGO
Neutral International Force
to secure the problematic
Eastern border of the
Democratic Republic of the
Congo, especially with
Rwanda and Uganda, will
certainly help to create the
Hon. Mr. Lambert Mende
Omalanga, Minister of Information
conditions for a lasting
peace.

16. • Faith, persistence and
EGYPT
adherence to the principles
of respect and dialogue can
and will carry us through.
• Egypt throughout its
history has been known to
promote and support
action towards peace and
Hon. Hisham peaceful coexistence within
Badr, Assistant
Minister of
Foreign Affairs
and between nations.

18. • The culture of peace means
EGYPT
above all understanding
the Other in its
difference, understanding
the stranger, understanding
the one who belongs to
another nation, another
ethnic group, another
Dr. Sonia Ramzi,
former Head of the religion.
Promotion of Cultural
Heritage, UNESCO
• A stranger is a friend whom
I have not yet met.

19. • The corrupt tendencies by
some in the private
GHANA
sector, especially the
foreign ones, are causing
havoc in Africa, and they
are doing it with impunity.
• Ordinary people at the
grassroots normally do not
harbor ethnic or religious
H.E. Jerry
Rawlings, President hateful feelings against one
, 1981 to 2000
another when
governments ensure the
rule of law or justice.

20. • Tolerance and harmony
among faiths is practiced in
GUINEA-BISSAU our cities and villages.
• However, people’s
economic and social well-
being worsened with the
instability that the country
experienced in the last
decade and a half; and only
H.E. Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo,
President
a legitimate
government, based on
popular will expressed at
the polls and imbued with
patriotic spirit, can halt and
reverse the process.

21. • You cannot imagine what it
ISRAEL
means for a man like
me, coming from Israel, to
sit down to dinner here
with my neighbors from
Arab countries.
• This is more than I could
Hon. Ran
have believed would
Cohen, Member of the
Knesset, 1984 to 2009 happen in all my 20 years
of working for peace.

23. • Due to the incredible
difficulty in de-nuclearizing
JAPAN Pyongyang, the international
community must respond
with either massive rewards
or harsh penalties.
• We should envisage the
tentative freezing of the
nuclear and missile
development program
and/or its oversight by the
Amb. Tetsuya Endo,
former Ambassador in Charge International Atomic Energy
of Japan-North Korea
Normalization Talks, former
Agency or another UN
Vice Chairman of the Atomic
Energy Commission
agency, with the ultimate
objective of total de-
nuclearization.

24. • A nation should have the
primary responsibility for its
JAPAN own political system and
make it suit its peculiar
situation, such as its
history, tradition, culture, an
d popular dispositions.
• The international community
should honor a country’s
endeavors and extend
Amb. Yoichi indirect help such as official
Yamaguchi, former
Ambassador to Turkey
development
and Myanmar aid, trade, investment, techn
ology transfer, tourism, and
academic and cultural
exchanges.

25. • The international community
has a mission to support the
JORDAN
Arab peoples in the process
of reform and transformation
toward
justice, democracy, and
human dignity.
• This means it also has to
move with full force to stand
in the face of the dictatorial
Dr. Hamdi Murad,
Professor at the World Islamic regimes and thwart their
Sciences and Education
University, Amman plans and crimes against
their peoples -- not to remain
silent or stand by hesitating
to move against these bloody

27. • Let us work together to
REPUBLIC OF KOREA build ideal families and
nations, and let us join
together as nations, as
religions, as members of
civil society to create one
family under God.
Dr. Hyung Jin
Moon, Chairman.
Universal Peace
Federation

28. • Reunification should take
REPUBLIC OF KOREA
place through peace; it
takes time.
• There should be a de facto
reunification before the
legal reunification; this
would reduce expenditures
and help transform the
Gen. Dong Won
Lim, Minister of
ceasefire to a peace treaty.
Unification during the
administration of Korean
President Kim Dae-
jung, 1998 to 2003

29. • I insisted on reconciliation
KOSOVO
and normalization of
relations with Serbia.
• I am proud that my son and
all our children will never
again live in fear, will never
again be taught of hate.
Hon. Hashim
Thaci, Prime Minister

30. • In the name of our
MALI
common human family, in
the name of humanity, I
appeal for your help for my
country, OUR
country, Mali, to come out
of its dangerous impasse.
Mme Mintou Doucoure
Traore, First Lady

31. • A pattern of thinking more
about society than one's own
MONGOLIA
family, more about the
nation than one's
society, and more about the
world than one's own nation
has been cultivated in the
Mongolian mind-set.
• In the 21st century, with its
overwhelming moral
H.E. Punsalmaagiin
Ochirbat, President, 1990 to
decline, the Mongolians'
1997 merit of morality passed on
through their lineage should
be awakened.

33. • There needs to be an
NEPAL
innovative strategy for
steady economic
growth, and this must be
based on an
inclusive, cooperative
mindset.
• Cooperation is the only way
Hon. Ek Nath
out of the current
Dhakal, Minister of
Cooperatives and Poverty
economic and political
Alleviation
crisis.

34. • Peace is hard work; at the
THE NETHERLANDS
end of the day, we keep
peace only if we keep our
commitment.
• Are we prepared to keep
our commitment, even
when it becomes difficult?
Dr. Willem van
Eekelen, Former Defense
Minister, Former Deputy
Foreign Minister

35. • We must overcome
NICARAGUA
poverty and
underdevelopment
creating more
jobs, sustainable and in
an appropriate
number, to slow the
migration of millions of
H.E. Arnoldo Aleman
Lacayo, President, 1997 to
Latin Americans who
2002
leave their homes in
search of employment
and a better future.

36. • What is needed is an
integrated and
NIGERIA
comprehensive yet coherent
approach that includes, in
addition to political and
military
activities, transparent and
urgent improvements in the
areas of environmental
Prof. Ibrahim Gambari,
protection, human
former UN Under-Secretary-
General for Political
rights, good
Affairs, former Joint African
Union-United Nations Special
governance, democratization
Representative for Darfur , economic growth, and
poverty eradication.

38. • From my experience at an
PANAMA
NGO aimed at promoting
development opportunities
for families in extreme
poverty and eliminate
hazardous child labor, we
realized that for a country
to achieve real
Hon. Roxana Mendez
Obarrio, Mayor, Panama City
peace, freedom, and
democracy we must
eradicate poverty and the
lack of education.

39. • We need to ask
NEW ZEALAND
ourselves, are we prepared
and ready to help others?
• Will we defend not only
our own liberty and
freedom but that of those
who are strangers to us?
Mr. Colin
• Will we keep helping until
Craig, Founding
Leader of the people can stand on their
Conservative Party
own?

40. • The world has the prospect
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
of creating a single global
ethics on the basis of norms
of behavior that are actually
being practiced in modern
societies.
• Economics, science, politics,
and other spheres of activity
Hon. Elena Drapeko, have reached such a degree
First Vice Chair of the
Committee of Culture,
State Parliament
of complexity that they can
operate successfully only in
single social systems.

41. • We have to overcome
SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE
differences between
cultures and establish
harmony between all kinds
of people.
• Each of us can contribute
to peace, human
Hon. Alcino Martinho de Barros
rights, and a stable society.
Pinto, President of the National
Assembly

42. • During a time of conflict
SOLOMON ISLANDS
between the people of the
two largest islands, the
women of the islands
banded together to help
defuse the conflict.
Mme Bronwyn Noda
Lilo, wife of the Prime
Minister

43. • I attempted to create in my
SRI LANKA
constituency a center for all
religions to be respected and
honored; I wanted people to
be able to visualize the ideals
of religious harmony, to
actually see it, feel it and
touch it.
Hon. D. M. Jayaratne,
Prime Minister
• In this interfaith peace park
there is a Buddhist temple, a
Christian church, a Hindu
kovil, and a Muslim mosque.

45. • Peaceful and stable
TANZANIA
neighboring countries open
the way for economic
integration and promotion
of investment and trade.
• As brothers and sisters, as
mothers and fathers, as a
Mme Tunu Rehani
young generation, we
Pinda, wife of the Prime
Minister
should uphold the sanctity
of humanity before our
ambitions and desires.

46. • The New Deal brings a
TIMOR-LESTE new hope for the
sustainable development
of fragile States, enabling
better leadership by the
recipient countries and
better coordination of
Hon. Xanana
Gusmao, Prime international assistance.
Minister

47. • The struggle today is
between true
UNITED KINGDOM
religion, which is life-
enhancing, and false
religion, which is death-
dealing. A crime in the
name of God is a crime
against God.
• The task of trying to
Rev. Dr. Marcus
Braybrooke, Chairman. World
persuade extremists to
Congress of Faiths abandon their point of
view has to be taken up by
the interfaith community.

48. • Only when nations are
UNITED STATES
prosperous can we begin to
use our knowledge and our
talents to help the less
fortunate.
• And only when free nations
can continue to build
strong families with a God
Hon. Dennis Hastert,
Speaker of the House of centered value system can
Representatives, 1999 to 2007
we hope to become a
better world.

49. • Peace at any price
UNITED STATES
guarantees
defeat, servitude, and
ultimately a peace that no
one who loves freedom
would want.
• In the world and in the
Americas, peace and
Hon. Dan
Burton, Member of freedom can only come to
Congress, 1983 to
2013 a people who are strong
enough and willing enough
to defend these freedoms.

50. • More than 30 African states
ZIMBABWE
have embraced a new
thinking that puts “people”
first in their national
agenda.
• These countries, under the
guidance of young
Hon. Morgan R. leaders, are steering the
Tsvangirai, Prime Minister
continent towards a
positive era of Afro-
optimism.

51. The path to peace, prosperity, and human development involves cooperation among
governments, civil society, the private sector, the media, and people of faith..