Malaysia Urges Continuation Of ASEAN Cross-Cultural Religious Literacy Forum In The Philippines

JAKARTA, Feb 15 (Bernama) -- The ASEAN Cross-Cultural Religious Literacy Forum, launched by Malaysia as ASEAN Chair in 2025, has been proposed to continue this year in the Philippines.

Malaysia’s Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir said the proposal was submitted to the ASEAN Secretariat to ensure the continuity of several key programmes previously implemented by Malaysia.

He noted that the forum is a collaboration between International Islamic University Malaysia (UIAM) and the Leimena Institute, an Indonesian non-governmental organisation (NGO) active in promoting religious and cross-cultural literacy programmes.

“We have proposed to the ASEAN Secretariat that this dialogue of civilisations be extended to the Philippines (as the ASEAN Chair this year).

“The ASEAN Secretariat has, in principle, agreed to the expansion, though it is subject to further discussions with the Philippines,” he told Bernama on Sunday.

Earlier, Zambry, who arrived in Jakarta on Saturday for a two-day working visit, met with his counterpart, Prof Brian Yuliarto.

Zambry also met with the Director of the Leimena Institute to explore ways to expand the dialogue to include all ASEAN member states.

The forum serves as an initiative to enhance cross-cultural religious literacy across the region and marks a key step toward achieving the goals of the ASEAN Community Vision 2045.

-- BERNAMA