In the name of God the most Merciful, and the most Compassionate

To: Drs. Cornelis Hulsman,  
Director and Founder of the Center for Intercultural Dialogue and Translation (CIDT)


Dear Sir,
As I follow up the sincere efforts your good self exert for promoting dialogue between Muslims and Christians in Egypt on one hand and between the Arab World and the West on the other, I would like to express my deepest appreciation of these efforts which can correct misconceptions and wrong ideas of various parties, paving the way towards better understanding and closer cooperation. Such efforts lay down the foundation of peace and stability in the Arab world and the West in particular and the whole world in general, especially as we all in the contemporary world live in a large global village.

There is no doubt that the long experience you earned in dialogue and its mechanisms over three decades has enriched the work of the Center for Intercultural Dialogue and Translation (CIDT) that you founded and the publication Arab West Report you supervise.
The significant services you offer to scholars, researchers, students and religious leaders through a unique database including more than twenty six thousand articles and reports are worthy of appreciation and commendation.

It further solidified my admiration for your efforts in the field of dialogue that you seek to involve large segments of the public opinion in dialogue and towards this end you work with students who have the enthusiasm and the desire and own the tools that enable them to achieve good results. I have been always of the opinion that it is necessary to bring dialogue out of closed rooms into the larger body of public opinion in order to obtain pursued benefits.  
I believe that expanding the activities of CIDT through offering opportunities to interns coming for Western and other countries will generate much benefits.

All these commendable efforts are worthy of appreciation, encouragement, and financial and moral support in order for your work to continue and grow towards more understanding and cooperation among peoples in the Arab and Western worlds and more contribute to  to the achievement of peace in our world, the world of all of us

Best Regards
Professor Dr. Mahmoud Hamdi Zaqzouq
Former Minister of Awqaf [Endowments and Head of the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs
                    
January 14, 2013  

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