2025_11_22_CDI São Paulo

World’s largest center-right political network endorses pioneering Middle East peace initiative led by Indonesia

“The CDI encourages Member Parties and their political foundations to cooperate with Nahdlatul Ulama and the G20 Religion Forum (R20) in their effort to foster compassion, reconciliation, forgiveness, and peace — rather than hatred, violence, and revenge — in the Middle East, through The Road Not Yet Taken Initiative.”

~ Centrist Democrat International

SÃO PAULO, Brazil, 22 November 2025 — Meeting in the industrial capital of Latin America’s most populous nation, the world’s largest network of political parties unanimously adopted a resolution recognizing the strategic value of The Road Not Yet Taken Initiative: A Multi-Religious Path Towards Middle East Peace. The resolution urged member parties of Centrist Democrat International (CDI) and their political foundations to cooperate in the execution of this peace initiative, which is led by Indonesia’s Nahdlatul Ulama, the G20 Religion Forum (R20), and the Center for Shared Civilizational Values.

Later that same day, the CDI General Assembly re-elected Indonesian political leader H. Abdul Muhaimin Iskandar (photo below) to a second four-year term as CDI Vice President and member of its Executive Committee. Mr. Iskandar, who heads Indonesia’s largest Islamic political party — the Nahdlatul Ulama-affiliated PKB — currently serves as Coordinating Minister for Social Empowerment in President Prabowo Subianto’s Red and White Cabinet.

The Resolution on Indonesia’s and CDI Member Parties’ contributions to securing a just and lasting peace in the Middle East “not[ed] with appreciation the speech that His Excellency Prabowo Subianto, President of the Republic of Indonesia, delivered to the United Nations General Assembly on 23 September 2025; acknowledg[ed] President Subianto’s support for a two-state solution, with Israel and Palestine existing side-by-side in peace; [and] welcom[ed] the President of Indonesia’s statement that ‘[the] descendants of Abraham must live in reconciliation, peace, and harmony. Arabs, Jews, Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, all religions. We must live as one human family. Indonesia is committed to being part of making this vision a reality.’”

H.E. Prabowo Subianto addressing the UN General Assembly in September 2025

The CDI resolution also made a point of:

Acknowledging the profound insight of President Abdurrahman Wahid (1940 – 2009) — the co-founder of CDI Member Party PKB and long-time chairman of Indonesia’s Nahdlatul Ulama — that purely military, political, and economic efforts to achieve peace between Israelis and Palestinians, while ignoring the crucial role of religion in shaping mindsets and narratives, cannot succeed;

Noting the Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict announced by U.S. President Donald J. Trump on 29 September 2025, which states, “An interfaith dialogue process will be established based on the values of tolerance and peaceful co-existence to try and change mindsets and narratives of Palestinians and Israelis by emphasizing the benefits that can be derived from peace” (Point 18); and

Recognizing the strategic value of The Road Not Yet Taken Initiative: A Multi-Religious Path Towards Middle East Peace, which is rooted in the practical wisdom of Indonesia’s ancient and enduring traditions of religious pluralism and tolerance. Launched by Nahdlatul Ulama and the G20 Religion Forum (R20) in November 2024, the initiative seeks to “mobiliz[e] religious authorities to foster compassion, reconciliation, forgiveness, and peace in the birthplace of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.”

The CDI:

Affirms the value of strategic engagement on the part of Indonesia and CDI Member Parties in the Middle East and their efforts to help chart a viable path towards just and lasting peace in the region;

Urges CDI Member Parties to cooperate with the Government of Indonesia in its efforts to help ensure peace and security for the region’s diverse peoples and nations; and

Encourages CDI Member Parties and their political foundations to cooperate with Nahdlatul Ulama and the G20 Religion Forum (R20) in their effort to foster compassion, reconciliation, forgiveness, and peace — rather than hatred, violence, and revenge — in the Middle East, through The Road Not Yet Taken Initiative.

Executive Committee – São Paulo, 22.11.2025

This marks the eleventh consecutive time, since April 2019, that a PKB resolution has been unanimously adopted by the CDI Executive Committee and/or General Assembly.

Click here or on the image below to read the full resolution

Ibu Luluk Hamidah, PKB’s Director of International Relations (above right), with Kinga Gál, who heads the third largest political group in the European Parliament (PfE, or Patriots for Europe)

PKB was represented in São Paulo by Ibu Luluk Hamidah, the great granddaughter of Nahdlatul Ulama founder KH. Hasyim Asy’ari, and by C. Holland Taylor, Deputy Chairman & CEO, Center for Shared Civilizational Values, and Special Advisor for International Affairs to the General Chairman, NU Central Board.

CDI President and former president of Colombia, Andrés Pastrana Arango (center), speaks with the press at CDI’s Executive Committee Meeting and General Assembly in São Paulo. To his right is PSD President Gilberto Kassab.

The CDI Executive Committee Meeting and General Assembly in São Paulo (20 – 23 November 2025) was hosted by CDI member party Partido Social Democratico (PSD) and co-sponsored by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, a political foundation associated with Germany’s ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU). A center-right political party whose origins lay in opposition to Brazil’s military dictatorship, PSD is particularly strong in the country’s south-eastern economic heartland.