Auckland Hindu youth leader Pritika Sharma recently was part of a New Zealand delegation to represent the interfaith community at the 5th Asia-Pacific Regional Interfaith Dialogue in Perth, Australia, last month.
New Zealand was praised as international leaders in social harmony at this meeting held overv two days from October 28.
The Hindu community of New Zealand is proud of this invitation to the upcoming young leader.
Ms Sharma is the central secretary of Hindu Council of New Zealand and was the co-ordinator of the first New Zealand Hindu Youth Conference in May 2009 with the theme “Living in Modern New Zealand with Traditional Values”.
The aim of the conference was to celebrate the identity of Hindu youth and to ensure that Hindu youth develop into productive citizens. “The Hindu youth conference was the first step towards building a stronger and more dynamic youth network and to network with other like-minded organisations,” Ms Sharma said in her welcome address.
The Asia-Pacific regional interfaith dialogue process began in Yogyakarta in December 2004 followed by Cebu, Philippines in 2006, Waitangi, New Zealand in 2007 and Phnom Penh, Cambodia last year.
The governments of Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand and the Philippines co-sponsored the first dialogue and continue to do so. The dialogue brought together delegations from 15 countries in South East Asia and the Pacific aiming to develop stronger interfaith relationships between countries in the Asia Pacific region and nationally in all countries that participate.
Theme for this year’s dialogue was “Future Faith Leaders: Regional Challenges and Co-operation”. Four plenary sessions were: Faith and education: preventing the radicalisation of vulnerable youth; Faith and the media/internet: combating religious stereotypes; Building relationships among future faith leaders: fostering networks and practical partnerships among future faith leaders; Conflict resolution and peace-building: combating misinformation, prejudice and bigotry about various faith groups. The delegation was led by Pansy Wong, Minister of Ethnic Affairs.
New Zealand delegates performing a Waiata at the end of Pansy Wong’s keynote speech at the fifth Asia-Pacific Regional Interfaith Dialogue in Perth, Australia.