President of the EP Hans-Gert Pottering is to meet on December 10 Hindu statesman Rajan Zed (pictured).
President of European Parliament Hans-Gert Pottering has invited Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, for a meeting to discuss Hindu issues and promote interfaith dialogue.
The meeting would take place on December 10 in Brussels and is said to be the first major formal visit of a Hindu leader to EP during the current European Year of Intercultural Dialogue (EYID).
Various other world religious leaders who visited EP as part of EYID include Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew, Grand Mufti of Syria and Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.
The EP and European Council established EYID in view of increasingly important role of intercultural dialogue in fostering European identity and citizenship.
Hinduism has about one billion adherents in the world and the number of Hindus has been steadily growing in Europe.