Today the delegation led by the King Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
visited the Moscow Cathedral Mosque. Mufti Sheikh Ravil Gaynutdin personally greeted every member of the high delegation: His Royal Highness Prince Ghazi bin Mohammad (chief adviser of His Majesty the King for religious and cultural affairs); His Excellency Mr. Ayman Al-Safadi, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Mr. Amjad Adayle (Ambassador of Jordan to the Russian Federation); His Excellency Mr. Manar Dabbas (Director of the Political Department) and Mr. Ghais Al-Tarawneh (Acting Director of the Department of Politics, Media and Communications).

"It is a great honour for Russian Muslims to receive a direct descendant of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). This is an important event in the history of the Russian Muslim Ummah, " — said the mufti, adding that our countries celebrated the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations this year.

The Mufti highly appreciated the contribution of Jordan to Middle East peace process and arranging Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, which might result in the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

"It is good to know that the relations with President Putin make the King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan a good friend of Russian Muslims," said the Russian Muslim leader, emphasizing that His Majesty was the initiator of the Amman Declaration, which laid the foundation for the dialogue on the Middle East settlement.

Mufti Sheikh Ravil Gaynutdin also noted that there were more than 600,000 refugees are in Jordan, which had previously accepted a great number of Palestinians. The Jordanian authorities expressed their commitment to the political settlement of the Syrian conflict from the very beginning.

The Ministry of Awqaf, Islamic Affairs and Holy places of Jordan and the Royal Jordanian Commission for Jerusalem deal with a variety of issues related to the functioning of the holy Islamic sites in Jerusalem (more than 1,000 people at the Ministry alone are involved in activities related to Al-Quds).

The religious leader of Russian Muslims expressed the opinion that signing a memorandum of cooperation with the Ministry of Awqaf, Islamic Affairs and Holy places of Jordan might encourage closer cooperation between Muslim organizations in Russia.

Mufti Sheikh Ravil Gainutdin thanked the embassy members for positive contribution to the lives of Russian Muslims and for the assistance in organizing the visit of Jordanian representatives. The parties scheduled the visit of the Minister of Awqaf, Dr. Mohammad Arabiyat, to Moscow. He is expected to visit Russia within the next 6 months, in order to discuss the issue regarding development of educational relations with the Bolgar Islamic Academy and the Moscow Islamic University.

The guests suggested to translate a major work written by Jordanian scholars into Russian, so that the Russian Muslims have a great educational source.

Another area of cooperation is tourism. "Our Muslim tour operators have developed the program called Three Holy Sites. Cooperation in the Halal area is also mutually beneficial.
The Centre for International Halal Standardization and Certification operating under the Russia Muftis Council has already been accredited in the Gulf countries. The certified poultry is already being shipped to Jordan. We would be extremely happy to increase the supply of high-quality Russian halal products", — said Mufti Sheikh Ravil Gaynutdin.

His Majesty expressed a great interest in the proposals put forward by the Russian mufti. The King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Abdullah, agreed that the the leaders of our countries haв similar opinions about the majority of global issues and challenges.