Leaders from some of the world's most populous Muslim-majority countries will meet Thursday in Malaysia's capital to discuss issues such as Islamophobia and poverty.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad will chair the meeting with other heads of state, including President Hassan Rouhani of Iran and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, is also expected to attend.
According to the organizers, at least 250 foreign representatives from 52 countries and 150 Malaysian delegates will also join the Kuala Lumpur Summit.
On the other hand there will be notable absences, including leaders from Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
Rouhani, who arrived in the Malaysian capital on Tuesday, said his presence in Kuala Lumpur is part of a "turn to the East" policy and an effort to strengthen "ties with major Asian countries.
Iran is currently facing U.S. economic sanctions, which Mahathir of Malaysia described Saturday as a violation of international law.
The world leaders and representatives of the Muslim world will deal mainly with five of the most relevant issues affecting their governments and people.
We have heard the world echoing the term 'Islamophobia' far and wide and we have done our best to show the peaceful colours of our religion.
— KL Summit 2019 (@kl_summit) 6 de diciembre de 2019
It is time now to reflect and come together, to show what it means to be united.
Welcome to the KL Summit 2019. pic.twitter.com/zGHHaMKkeR
Among those issues will be the Rohingya refugee crisis where more than 730,000 people have fled Myanmar since the brutal military repression in the western state of Rakhine started in August 2017, many of them now live in Bangladesh, a mostly Muslim country of 161 million inhabitants.
Another important point in the meeting will be the war in Yemen where more than 100,000 people have died in a conflict that, according to the United Nations, has created the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
And finally the Gender inequality since only half of the world's women are employed, in contrast to the three quarters of men in jobs that exist on the planet; and the economic disparity, because in the Muslim world, while some countries enjoy large incomes, others sink among the countries with the highest rates of misery and hunger in the world.