Brussels, the city which headquarters the EU bodies, has presented its bid to host Parliament of the World Religions in 2014, the largest interreligious gathering in the world held once every five years in a different city.
Nearly 8.000 people from around the world are expected to attend the one-week event whose objective is to promote the dialogue between the various religions, faiths and convictions.
The previous gathering in Melbourne, Australia, in 2009, had gathered representatives of the three monotheists religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam, but also of Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism, Jainism, Animism and Baha’i.
Brussels is competing with Guadalajara, Mexico, and Dallas in the United States.
Members of the management board of the Chicago-based Parliament of the World Religions stayed in Brussels earlier this month to visit the city’s infrastructures and to appreciate their capacities. They also met representatives of religious groups and political authorities.
According to Peter De Wilde, head of Flanders’s tourism bureau, which works together with Brussels International (BITC) in the bidding process, this kind of event is very important for Belgium because of the economic fallouts.
"Brussels has much to bring to the world owing to the fact that it’s a town of junction and consensus", said Miguel Mesquita da Cunha, who chairs the Steering Committee Brussels 2014.
The choice of the next host city should be known in January 2011.