2025_05_30_CDI General Assembly in Abidjan, Ivory Coast

Centrist Democrat International urges recognition of the G20 Religion Forum (R20) as a G20 main event and permanent engagement group

“CDI Urges member parties and all G20 Member States, including the United States of America, to prioritize long-term cooperation with the world’s major religions through the existing mechanism of the G20 Religion Forum (R20), in order to foster international peace, security, and prosperity”

~ Centrist Democrat International

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — On Friday 30 May 2025 members of Centrist Democrat International (CDI) — the world’s largest coalition of political parties, which was formerly known as Christian Democrat International — unanimously endorsed a Resolution on fostering international peace, security, and prosperity through cooperation between the G20 Religion Forum (R20) and IDC-CDI.

The resolution was drafted by the world’s largest Muslim organization, Indonesia’s Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), and submitted to CDI by an NU-affiliated political party, PKB, which has held a CDI Vice Presidency since October 2021.

Members of CDI’s Executive Committee including, from left to right, Elmar Brok, representing Germany’s Christian Democratic Union; C. Holland Taylor, representing Indonesia’s National Awakening Party (PKB); Lahcen Haddad, representing Morocco’s Istiqlal Party; Luís Filipe Lopes Tavares, representing Cape Verde’s Movement for Democracy; and CDI General Coordinator Luis Blanco

This marks the tenth consecutive time, since April 2019, that Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Hungary’s ruling party, Fidesz, have jointly endorsed a substantive PKB/NU resolution. Prior resolutions have endorsed Nahdlatul Ulama’s Humanitarian Islam movement (2019); affirmed that “Western humanism, Christian democracy and Humanitarian Islam are kindred traditions” (2020); and recognized “the value of the R20 as a means of providing a seat at the G20 table for religious communities and their leaders” (2023).

(Above) CDI Vice President Anne Désirée Ouloto of Ivory Coast’s Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP) addresses the CDI General Assembly in Abidjan

(Below) RHDP members pose for a group photo with CDI Executive Committee Member Adalberto Costa Júnior (UNITA, Angola) and Alberto Ruiz Thierry, CDI Special Representative for Africa

The latest NU/PKB resolution was unanimously adopted by members of CDI’s Executive Committee and its General Assembly, which convened on 30 May 2025 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, hosted by Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace, a CDI Member Party that governs the prosperous West African state.

CDI President Andrés Pastrana Arango wears the traditional cloth and regalia of an Ivorian king, which were presented to him by RHDP during the CDI General Assembly in Abidjan. He is flanked by Anne Désirée Ouloto of RHDP and José Ulisses de Pina Correia e Silva, Prime Minister of Cape Verde.

The adoption of this resolution, including its endorsement by CDU and Fidesz, once again demonstrates Nahdlatul Ulama’s ability to help reconcile severe policy differences that have strained relations among various EU and NATO Member States. In the resolution, CDI:

Strongly encourages the U.S. Government to recognize an R20 International Summit of Religious Authorities (R20 ISORA) as an official G20 Main Event in 2026, in conjunction with the U.S. Presidency of the G20;
Calls upon its member parties, and all G20 Member States, including the United States of America, to cooperate in securing recognition of the R20 as a permanent G20 Engagement Group; and
Urges CDI member parties and all G20 Member States, including the United States of America, to prioritize long-term cooperation with the world’s major religions through the existing mechanism of the G20 Religion Forum (R20), in order to foster international peace, security, and prosperity.

Click here or on the image below to read the full resolution in English and Spanish.

(Above) Albana Vokshi, representing the Democratic Party of Albania, introduces the final draft of the statutes for a Women’s Organization of IDC-CDI, which was unanimously approved by the CDI Executive Committee and General Assembly in Abidjan

(Below) Participants in the CDI Abidjan Summit pose for a group photo, including (front row, from left to right): Elmar Brok (CDU, Germany); Adalberto Costa Júnior (UNITA, Angola); Albana Vokshi (Democratic Party of Albania); Zsolt Németh (Fidesz, Hungary); Lahcen Haddad (Istiqlal, Morocco); CDI President Andrés Pastrana Arango (PCC, Colombia); Anne Désirée Ouloto (RHDP, Ivory Coast); CDI Secretary General Antonio López-Istúriz White (Partido Popular, Spain); Janez Janša (SDS, Slovenia); C. Holland Taylor (representing PKB, Indonesia); and representatives of CDI member parties from Croatia, Cambodia, and Albania.