The King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID), currently based in Vienna, will relocate to Lisbon.

KAICIID’s Council of the Parties and the Portuguese Government have agreed on transferring the Centre's headquarters from Vienna to Lisbon. The Seat Agreement will be signed on the 29th of October, in Lisbon, by the Centre's Secretary General, Faisal Bin Muaammar, and by the Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, Augusto Santos Silva.

Mrs. Elham Alshejni, has been appointed, as of November 1st, as interim Deputy Secretary-General of the Centre, in order to ensure the relocation process and the continuity of the Centre's work.

The King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue aims at promoting dialogue and understanding among different religions and cultures, encouraging respect for diversity and pursuing justice and peace among nations and peoples, as well as combating the misuse of religion as a justification for violence and persecution.

The Centre comprises a Council of Parties composed of representatives of the founding member states (Saudi Arabia, Austria, Spain, and the Holy See as founding observer member) and a Board of Directors composed of representatives of various religions (including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism).

With the transfer of the KAICIID headquarters, Portugal will have nine international organisations and will see its international profile strengthened in an area — intercultural and inter-religious dialogue — that is particularly important.

We recall that Portugal is the headquarters of the Council of Europe's North/South Centre - European Centre for Interdependence and Global Solidarity, and that Mr. Jorge Sampaio was the first High Representative of the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations. Lisbon, 22nd of October, 2021