"It would be most effective measure against international terrorism if Muslim countries were in the vanguard of the anti-terror movement," the Chechen president said.
"Islam has nothing to do with terrorism, cruelty, violence and murder. There are criminals who have no nationality, spirituality, religion, who use Islam as a cover, but in fact pursue their personal goals," the official said.
The threat of terrorism is still perceptible, he added. "I am sure that this conference will make many people take a different view on Islam and Muslims in general," Alu Alkhanov said.
"Moscow believes that Russia and the Islamic world are allies in the combat against international terrorism," said the message of the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov read out at the conference.
"We are sure that it is impossible to solve the acute and global problems facing humanity at the beginning of the 21st century without the Islamic world's participation," the Russian minister underlined in his message.