Lima, 17 of July of 2005.

Delegates of 33 Latin American countries and the Arab world met in Lima for the 5th Congress of Islamic Organizations of Latin America and the Caribbean.

The meeting was sponsored by the Islamic Organization for the Education, Science and Culture (ISESCO), the Islamic Organization for Latin America and the Caribbean (OLPADI), and the Islamic Association of Peru.

The meeting began with the speech of Dr Abdulaziz Al-Tuweijiri, CEO of ISESCO, as well as with the participation of diverse delegations of the Bank of Islamic Development (IDB) and of the Islamic International European Council.

The objective of the meeting was to encourage the cooperation between the Islamic Organizations of the countries which are members; as well as, to promote the pacific coexistence between the towns and their consolidation in Latin America, through the areas of education, science, culture, and communication under the principles of Islam.

Another objective was to promote the dialogue between official and popular institutions of the region and therefore improve the image of Islam and Muslims within Latin America. ISESCO has created a program specifically to improve the image of Islam. Among other objectives was to organize a documentary within the cultural area in Latin America and to work together with Brazilian organizations.

Shaikh Yahya Juan Suquillo, Imam of the Islamic Center of Ecuador, spoke at the inauguration of the event, representing all his colleagues of the Islamic Organizations of Latin America.

The President of the Islamic Association of Peru, Damin Awad, affirmed that the Muslims in Latin America are perfectly “integrated” with the societies that form the Latin American Muslim group. Islam lives in an atmosphere of “harmony” in Latin America, he asserted in Nederland Radio.