Chairmen of Cultural Centers and Islamic Associations in Latin America Meet in Buenos Aires

The chairmen of cultural centers and Islamic associations in Latin America are holding a meeting this May 15-19, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The meeting is meant to foster the ties linking Muslim minorities and communities in that part of the world with their Islamic civilization, by means of heightening awareness of the heads of Islamic associations and cultural centers about the necessity to energize Islamic cultural action in their host lands.

Some 20 chairmen of cultural centers and Islamic associations in Latin America are debating means of promoting coordination of these institutions actions, elaboration of training programs specific to the centers and associations, modernization of the methods of the Islamic call, and study of the programs underlying implementation of the Strategy for Islamic Cultural Action in the West.

Means of protecting the Islamic cultural identity of the children of Muslim communities, ways of presenting the Islamic culture in the media and redressing the image of Islam and Muslims in the local media are also on the agenda.

The meeting is sponsored by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO/based in Rabat) and the Tripoli-based World Islamic Call Society (WICS), in coordination with the Buenos Aires -based Islamic Organization of Latin America.

The meeting is held part of the implementation of the Strategy for Islamic Cultural Action in the West, worked out by the ISESCO and adopted, along with its implementation mechanisms, by the 9th Islamic Summit Conference held last November in Doha.

The meeting is attended by cultural centers and Islamic associations from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chili, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Antilles, Ecuador, Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Honduras, Colombia and Cuba. ISESCO Director General and WICS secretary general are also attending.