REGIONAL CONFERENCE ON PEACE AND RECONCILIATION

Cooperation of different religions

From February 21 – 23 the Macedonian Centre for International Cooperation hosted the Regional Conference of the Network for Peace and Reconciliation, organized by the European Conference of Churches. The Conference was attended by representatives of local and international non-governmental organizations that operate in the region, churches and religious groups from Albania, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania and Croatia. The discussion was on several main topics: dialogue and interaction, media and public services and education, and the focus was put on the dialogue between the religions.

The Conference was attended by some 20 participants, and it brought the agreement for further functioning of the Network by defining the directions, which will be defined on the next meeting in Saraevo. The further acting will be facilitated by the fund established for supporting the Network projects.
The establishing of the Network for Peace and Reconciliation is part of the initiative called Ecumenical Partnership for South-Eastern Europe. This World Council of Churches initiative bore three priority segments. Peace and reconciliation is one of them, and the Conference in Skopje – coordinated by the European Conference of Churches - was within its frameworks. The second segment is the return of the refugees, and the third one is the strengthening of the organizations’ capacities. MCIC is a leader-organization of the third segment.