A foundation meeting of the Russian-Iranian Council for Public Relations took place in Moscow. The event was attended by the deputy head of the administration of Russia Muftis Council Renat hazrat Abyanov. At the meeting, he conveyed the greetings and wishes of the Chairman of Russia Muftis Council and the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Russian Federation to all the participants:

BismiLlahi-r Rahmani-r Rahim!

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful!

Dear Rajab Sattarovich!

Dear participants of the foundation meeting of the Russian-Iranian Council for Public Relations!

I am sincerely glad to greet you with traditional Muslim greeting: As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatulLahi wa barakatuhu! May the peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be with you!

I wish all the honourable participants of the meeting fruitful and successful work.

Islam always welcomes peaceful way of developing international and interfaith relations, the aspiration of people to understand each other. "O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another" (Qur'an, 49:13).

The Almighty Allah is merciful to those who responsibly carry their creative duty that lets maintain justice and balance.

Members of the Russian-Iranian Council have done a lot of organizational work aimed at developing religious and economic ties between our states.

President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin has repeatedly told of the friendly and neighbourly relations between Russia and the Islamic Republic of Iran. During his address at the press conference, he particularly mentioned the issue of cooperation with Iran, stressing that the relations between the two countries will be intensively developing and citing the ongoing cooperation, particularly in the oil sphere.

Today, when the positions of Russia and Iran on international affairs mostly match, when the policy of the two states is aimed at prevention of armed conflicts and intervention of third parties into the affairs of sovereign states, the relations between the Muslims of the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran will become only stronger and closer.

I cannot but emphasize that during the last year we had fruitful meetings with the first deputy head of judicial power of Iran Seyed Ebrahim Rais-os-Sadati and the extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of Iran in Russian Federation Mehdi Sanai that resulted in further agreements on cooperation. Just like President Putin, we support the policy of establishing even closer ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran and we are determined to continue our cooperation for the good of our Ummah and our countries.

We are pleased that the Iranian party supports and actively contributes to the events and educational projects of Russia Muftis Council, particularly the Moscow International Qur'an Reciting Competition, international exhibition Moscow Halal Expo and the International Muslim Forum.

I wish our dear participants of the meeting fruitful and successful work, spiritual and physical fortitude, well-being and prosperity in all their spiritual quests.

May the peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be with you!

With kind prayers and best wishes,
Mufti sheikh Ravil Gaynutdin
Chairman of Russia Muftis Council
Chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims
of the Russian Federation

RMC press service