"More than 100 countries were represented at the Islamic Solidarity Games in Azerbaijan, more than a thousand athletes and coaches participated," the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has said it at the 2nd Baku Summit of World Religious Leaders, APA reports.

The head of state said that the Games of Islamic Solidarity play a big role in promoting interreligious, intercultural dialogue: “Last year we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Baku Process. The Baku process is a process started on my initiative, and today has broad international support. Including the UN perceives the Baku process as an important platform for inter-religious, intercultural dialogue. In 2008, a meeting of the Council of Europe Culture Ministers was held in Baku. We decided to invite the ministers of culture of the countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to this meeting. So the first contact appeared. Then we invited ministers from Europe to a meeting of culture ministers of the countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Baku in 2009. Azerbaijan is one of the rare states that is a member of both the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Council of Europe. We took this opportunity and launched the Baku process. Today, the Baku process is very highly regarded in the international arena. The Baku process is a truly unique format of cooperation. ”