December 15, the XVII International Muslim Forum entitled ‘From Ecological Preaching to Ecological Thinking: Searching for the Optimal Way of Speaking’ was held supported by Religious Board of Muslims of the Russian Federation and organized by Secretariat of the Muslim International Forum.

Mufti Sheikh Ravil Gainutdin, Chairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia and Chairman of the Clerical Administration of Muslims of Russian Federation kicked off the forum with his opening remarks. President of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Turkey Ali Erbas, and Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue Miguel Ángel Ayuso, Grand Muftis of Egypt, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and other countries, representatives, religious officials from the United States, the UK and other countries made a speech. Speaking at the International Forum, Chairman of the State Committee on Religious Associations (SCRA) of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mubariz Gurbanli has said that Azerbaijan holds large-scale environmental education and awareness-raising campaigns. The Chairman drew attention to the responsibilities of religious officials and their active involvement in projects aimed at protecting the environment in order to address the global environmental challenges. The Chairman has noted that topics such as religion and ecology, Islamic religion and attitudes towards nature and other similar topics are among the publications and video footages by the State Committee, the Caucasus Muslims Board, Theology Institute of Azerbaijan, the Moral Values Promotion Fund, awareness ideas are promoted using the advantages of TV channels and social media extensively. Mr. Gurbanli also drew attention to the ecological terror committed by Armenia in Karabakh and adjacent areas, which had been under occupation for almost 30 years and liberated as a result of our brilliant victory in the Great Patriotic War. The Chairman has informed the forum participants that the construction and restoration works in the liberated territories under the program defined by the President Ilham Aliyev have successfully launched, the restoration of the environment has a special place among them, and large-scale projects are being carried out to turn Karabakh into a "Green Energy" zone have been successfully implemented.

The forum concluded with the discussions which speeches by the representatives from relevant organizations around the world were interesting.