Astana, September 17, 2025 — The Europe Today: Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev underscored the importance of spiritual diplomacy in addressing global challenges during his address at the VIII Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, according to media reports.
“We believe it is important to leverage the potential of spiritual diplomacy within international and regional organizations,” President Tokayev stated. He proposed initiating discussions on the creation of a peace movement under the auspices of the Congress, an idea he had previously put forward. He suggested that religious hierarchies could serve as the moral foundation of this movement, making a neutral and non-politicized call to end violence and promote peaceful solutions.
The Head of State stressed that such an initiative, grounded in universal human values such as the sanctity of life, compassion, and mercy, could unite not only the global community of believers but also politicians, representatives of international organizations, government institutions, experts, and youth. “The voice for peace must be more persistent, and platforms like the Congress are designed to facilitate this,” he emphasized.
President Tokayev also expressed gratitude to UN member states for supporting Kazakhstan’s initiative to establish a UN Regional Centre for the Sustainable Development Goals for Central Asia and Afghanistan in Almaty. He further highlighted the need to strengthen the role of regional structures, including the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), ASEAN, and the League of Arab States.
