Speech by Rev. Nobuhiro Nemoto, Secretary-General of ACRP, at the Webinar Hosted by CCRP in Oct. 2020

Rev. Nobuhiro Nemoto
Secretary-General of ACRP

Congratulations on the webinar conference today on the theme “Multi-religious concerted efforts and cooperation to promote common well-being for human beings” organized by CCRP.

It is my greatest honor and pleasure to be invited and given the opportunity to speak at this very important conference.  This is a critical time to bring together the wisdom of religions to contribute to the well-being of humanity through dialogue and cooperation.

Firstly, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the organizers, the Living Buddha, Ven. Pagbalha Geleg Namgyai, President of CCRP, Mr. Deng Zongliang, Executive Vice President of CCRP, Mr. Lacan, the Secretary-General of CCRP, and all the members of CCRP for convening this timely webinar.

CCRP is not only a pivotal partner of ACRP and the RfP Global movement but also a national chapter that has shown strong leadership. As the chair of the Development and Environment committee of ACRP, CCRP has been continuously producing genuine constructive and effective advocacy to the world in the field of development and environment, with a profound view on the goals of the SDGs, and has been actively implementing concrete activities.

As the Secretary-General of ACRP, I would like to take this opportunity to thank CCRP for your role as a showcase for all the national chapters.

The purpose of this webinar is to discuss actions we religious people should take at present, as well as the path we should take in the post-corona period, not yet known when it will come.

You are clearly saying the following, which I totally agree;

COVID-19 has brought humanity to the unprecedented scale of the public health crisis and significant changes for global economic and social development. Facing the common challenges caused by the virus and social problems under the New Normal in the post-pandemic, human beings, including people from religion, have brought to the forefront of global economic and social development circles need more cooperation and unity to build a community with a shared future.

Across the world, the momentum of the COVID19 pandemic continues to spread unabated. The countries that are succeeding in controlling the spread of the corona, including the development of a vaccine, must work together to confront this crisis that humanity is facing. I strongly feel that we religious people, as members of the human family, must work together with politicians, business people, medical and research institutions, etc. to play a major role in overcoming the physical and mental crises, especially in addressing the fears and anxieties that pervade vulnerable people.

The CCRP was one of the first to provide mask support to several national chapters of the ACRP after the pandemic broke out. I can’t tell you how much you helped us, both physically and mentally. I would like to thank you CCRP from the bottom of my heart.

The urgent issue not only in Asia but also in the world today is to ensure a harmonious balance between health security and economic development, which is the keyword of the SDGs and aims to ensure that every single person enjoys sustainable development. If this is the case, we need to ensure the health and the economic life of each person. Too much attention towards one side or the other can put people’s lives at risk. It is a very sensitive but critical issue. We cannot turn a blind eye to this issue.

Governments and religious people like us must pool our wisdom and use our strengths to create an environment where no one is left behind and where everyone can live a healthy and humane life.

In this sense, it is of great significance that representatives of governments, religions, experts, researchers, and scholars come together to share their wisdom, engage in dialogue, and work together to solve the COVID19 challenge that humanity faces now as well as in the future.  This webinar is one of such critical opportunities.

There are several keywords.

• The New Normal in post-pandemic
• Safeguarding human and public health
• Well balanced progress between sustainable development/prosperity and health security
• Coexistence between economic development and environmental protection
• Multi-religious concerted efforts and cooperation to promote the common well-being of humanity
• Common actions among different religions, based on the shared values, for caring for our common future

　We sincerely hope that this two-hour webinar will lead us to more concrete directions and activities.

Thank you very much for your kind attention.